


Good Deeds

by Fullofanxiety



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Brotherly Thomas and Virgil, Fainting, Financial Issues, Homelessness, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2020-08-10 00:48:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20126611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fullofanxiety/pseuds/Fullofanxiety
Summary: Roman Deeds is the CEO to Deeds Inc. He never wanted this, but when his father died and named him head of the company instead of his alcoholic brother, he finds himself being ripped away from his dreams and shoved behind a desk. His life becomes boring and mundane. Nothing excites him anymore. But when he meets a man his age and his younger brother, he finds out that maybe there is so hope for him after all.Virgil Sanders is a young adult who is trying his best to keep his younger brother safe. But when financial troubles come crashing in, Virgil finds himself homeless and the threat of losing his brother to child protective services looming over him as he tried to make things right. When he meets a someone who may just prove that there are still people who do Good Deeds in this world.Based on Tyler Perry's Good DeedsEach chapter will have its own set of warnings





	1. Roman Deeds is Suffocating and Virgil Sanders is Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: mentions of drinking, addiction, arguments, homelessness, financial struggles, angst, lots of it, Remus is in this but I toned him down slightly, I think, Please let me know if I missed any.

Roman let out a sigh as he climbed out of bed. He went through his morning routine with dull movement. He pulled on a dull grey suit and a dull red tie. He slipped on his shiny black dress shoes and ate a bowl of plain oatmeal. He grabbed his briefcase and left his apartment before heading to his car. 

He wasn't always like this. He used to be joyful. He used to be so lively. But when his father made him head of his company months before his death, Roman's world was turned upside down. He was stuffed into a suit and tie and shoved behind a desk. After weeks of working tirelessly at a desk with no change, the life from Roman was drained. His brother, took to drinking to cope with his father's death and the betrayal he felt at not being made head of the company. Life was pretty consistent. Something that drained the energy from Roman with each passing day. 

Roman let out a sigh as he pulled to a stop outside of his brother’s apartment building. He glanced towards the door and noticed said brother, Remus screaming at some man and throwing clothes at him. Roman closed his eyes and leaned over the center console and shoved open the passenger door. "Remus! Get in the car!" He shouted. He grimaced as he heard more screaming and then his brother was falling into the passenger seat. "Remus-"

"Just drive!" 

Roman closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, he put the car into drive and began the drive to work. "When do you get your license back?" 

Remus glanced over at Roman angrily. "What? Sick of driving me already?" 

Roman let out a noiseless sigh. "No, I was just asking." The smell of alcohol wafted through the car.

"Mom won't talk to the judge."

Roman sighed. "Why can't you get your license back like every other person who has had several DUI's?" 

Remus grumbled as he glared angrily out the window. "Dad would have." 

"Remus, we love you-"

"Mom has a weird way of showing it." 

Roman went to speak before closing his mouth and changing his mind. "There's a tie in the glove box. Put it on, we're meeting our mother for lunch." 

Remus's eyes flared. "Wh-" 

Roman shook his head. "No, Remus. Don't argue, okay. Just-" Roman sighed. "Just don't."

\-----

Virgil rushed about the apartment, hurriedly trying to get ready for work and trying to make sure his younger brother was ready for school in time when a knock sounded at the door. He winced and opened the door to find the landlord waiting outside. "Virgil-" 

Virgil shook his head, his dark purple hair falling in front of his eyes. "Listen, I'll have the money today, I just don't have it right now." 

The landlord's face twisted painfully. "Virgil, I just- she already filed for the eviction." 

Virgil nodded. "I know, just- I need just a few more hours, okay? Tell her I'll have it soon, alright?" He quickly closed the door and rushed back to the bedroom. Thomas watched as he pulled his shoes on. Virgil shoved his hand inside the hole in his brothers mattress and pulled out a wad of cash. He counted out a few hundred dollars. Still, the amount was just short of the money he needed. He looked up and noticed Thomas in the doorway looking at him worriedly as he shoved the money back in the hole. 

"Are we gonna be put out?" He asked. 

Virgil closed his eyes with a sigh. He summoned optimism that he didn't believe and stood up. "No. No we're not Thomas." He put on the realest smile he could and showed him out the door. "Come on, you're gonna be late for school. I'm gonna have to make a stop before you go to school." 

\---

Roman pulled into the parking garage. He drove slowly until he got to his reserved parking spot. However, before he could pull in, an SUV haphazardly pulled in. He put his car in park and climbed out as a pale man jumped out of the SUV. The man had a black hoodie on, with patches of purple plaid sew on random spots with white thick stitching sew throughout. Roman immediately thought of an emo nightmare. "Hey, sir, that's my parking spot," Roman called. The emo nightmare paused and glanced at him with disdain before hurrying up the ramp and towards the elevator. "Sir! Sir!" 

Remus climbed out of the car. "Why are you calling him sir?" 

"Remus, don't-"

"Hey, bitch!" 

Roman winced. The emo nightmare came back and glared at them. "Listen, I'm only gonna be a few moments." He turned and walked back inside.

Remus quickly pulled out his cell. "Hey, listen, this is Remus Deeds, I need a tow truck. This man parked in my brothers spot." 

Roman frowned as his brother hung up. "This man left his son? In the car." He walked over and the young boy looked over, his straight, chocolate brown hair falling over his eyes. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." Roman bit his lip and turned climbing into his car. Pulling out his phone he called his adviser. "Hey, Logan? Can I'm gonna have to transfer the conference call to my car, this man parked in my spot and I'm waiting to park my car, so.." 

\----

Virgil walked to the desk and the man in front of him looked up. "Hey, Patton, I, um, need my check, please." Patton's face twisted into a painful expression as he handed over the envelope. 

"Listen, Virgil-" 

"Wait, where-?" His face twisted as he read over the amount. "This-where's the rest of it?" 

"You're behind on taxes and the IRS will be docking your pay for the next few months. There's a night shift that I need to fill-" 

Virgil closed his eyes and left out a huff. "Yeah, I'll take it." He sighed. "I'll be back in time for my shift, I gotta take my brother to school." Patton watched as the younger left, his heart twisting painfully. 

\----

Roman and Remus sat in their car, listening to the person on the other end of the conference call. "With Dante leaving, where does that put us, Logan?" Roman asked. 

"Not in a good place. They were 75% of our profit, Roman."

Roman frowned at the information the leveled voice gave him. "Hold on, last I checked, they were at 60, when did it get to 75?" 

"When Remus offered them a 12% discount on all new products. They upped their deal."

Roman glanced at Remus. 

"At the time, it was a good idea." 

Roman closed his eyes with a frown. "Okay, get all the financial info you can on Brunson. I'm gonna be burning the midnight oil on this. I'll be up in a second, Logan." 

Roman glanced out the window as a Harley drove by. He felt that nostalgic yearning he had felt years ago, when he was on his way to becoming who he wanted to be, when he was on his way to becoming a star. He turned his gaze away. He couldn't get lost in the past. He hand to focus on the now. Even if it hurts. 

\------

Virgil walked outside to find a tow man hooking up his car. "No!" He screamed as a look of horror passed over his face. He raced over and flung open the door and climbed in and sat next to his brother and pulled him into his grasp, his breathing quickened as his heart beat rapidly. 

"That's what you get you, dumbass!" Remus yelled at him. Roman frowned as he climbed out of his car. 

The little boy turned to Roman. "Please don't let him take my brother's car!" He cried. Roman felt his heart twist painfully as the older brother squeezed his eyes shut, a small tear leaked from his eyes. Roman closed his eyes. 

"Hey," he called, getting ahold of the tow man's attention. "Let it down." The car was lowered and Roman grabbed his things from his car, it would be parked for him, that way he could get to work. The emo nightmare climbed out of his car and shut the door. "Ass," he muttered under his breath as he climbed into the front seat. Roman frowned but let out a relieved sigh that his brother hadn't heard. He highly doubted murder would look good on his brother's record. 

\-----

Virgil rushed through the halls of school to Thomas's classroom. "I know, I'm late, I'm sorry. I'll make sure he's on time tomorrow." 

The teacher stopped him. "Listen, Virgil, if he keeps being late I'm gonna have to call child wealthfare. You bring him to school late and you pick him up late. Start being on time and I won't call." 

Virgil froze. "I'm- I'm gonna make sure he's on time. I-I have to go to work but he'll be on time tomorrow. And the next. I'll make sure of it." Virgil quickly rushed out and drove back to the apartment to pay the rent only to find people rooting through a bunch of things sitting at the curb. His eyes widened as he realized it was his things. He pulled over and scrambled out to frantically grab as much as he could. The landlord came over to help grab as much as he could and help Virgil. For that, Virgil was grateful. Not that he mentioned it. He was too busy focusing on grabbing their things.

He made sure to grab as much of his brothers things as he could and searched for the money he saved in the mattress only to find it gone. His face twisted painfully as he pulled himself off the ground and went to his car, shoving the things inside, he drove off, to work until he had to pick up Thomas from school. He really didn't want to have to face his little brother when he found out they were homeless. Tears streamed down Virgil's face. They were homeless. What kind of brother was he?? He couldn't even take care of himself and here he was trying to stay afloat for his brother and he couldn't. Virgil closed his eyes briefly as he sat at a red light. His brother deserved so much more. But he couldn't trust anyone else with his brother. He took a deep breath. He had to do this. For his brother. He had to. He couldn't let him down. 


	2. The Rich Man Hears The Poor Man Speak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mentions of almost drowning, cursing, mentions of alocholism, mentions of smoking, angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title taken from the lyrics of "City On A Hill" By Casting Crowns

A dark skinned woman in fine clothes stepped out of her car after pulling up to an expensive restaurant. She gave a polite smile to the valay and dropped her keys in his hands before sweeping gracefully up the stairs and inside. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Deeds." 

"Hello," The woman nods and walked herself to a small table where her sons, Roman and Remus sat waiting for her. 

Roman rose with a smile and he moved to pull out her chair for her. "Hello, mother, it's good to see you." 

"Good to see you," she greets before turning on her other son. Her nose wrinkled slightly in disgust. "Sit up straight. Rise and greet me." 

Remus shot a glare at his mother and stayed seated right where he was. "Hello, Mother."

Roman closed his eyes and took a deep breath to compose himself. His mother sat in her chair and he pushed in the chair. "You look quite lovely," he told his mother as he smoothed down his suit and sat down across from her. 

"Thank you." Roman forced himself to keep the small smile on his face as he noticed his mother give a snide side glance at his brother. "What's this Remus?" She asked as she eyed the glass in his hands. "A drink in the middle of the day?" 

"I'm gonna need it if I have to sit here with you. Be thankful it's not a mountain of cocaine!" Remus sneered. 

Roman pursed his lips and silently prayed that he had enough advil in his car to deal with the headache rapidly forming. "Why can't you be more like your brother?" Their mother asked, her face hardly showing any hint of the disgust she felt for her son. 

"Mom," Roman started. "What's going on?"

Mrs. Deeds straightened her back as she kept a poised smile on her face. "I wanted to see you. Unfortunately, you insisted on bringing your brother along." Remus glanced at Roman and rolled his eyes with disdain. 

"Well, you said it was about business. He is a part of the business, so he should be here."

Mrs. Deeds ignored Roman. "Are you still going to your meetings?" She asked Remus, a slightly smug smirk present on her face. 

"Why?" Remus growled. "What's it to you?" 

Roman resisted the urge to groan. "Yes. He's still going. I'm making sure of it," Roman had to hold himself back from saying 'blah blah blah'. "Mom, what's going on? What about business?" 

Mrs. Deeds sent one final glance at Remus before turning to Roman. "I've read the newspaper, are we okay?" 

Remus rolled his eyes and grimaced angrily. "Of course this is what its about. You're worried about yourself, just like always." 

Mrs. Deeds leveled a glare at her son. "Your father worked very hard to build this business. I certainly wouldn't want to lose it due to someone's," she threw a pointed look at him, "Mistakes." 

"Don't worry, mother. Perfect little Roman's gonna fix everything your horrible son did." Remus quickly shoved himself away from the table. “I'm going to have a cigarette. Don't worry, I can't drive. Roman has to because you have my car locked up in the office garage." Roman sighed wearily as his brother left the table. His mother watched her son leave with barely concealed disdain before turning back to Roman who used his background in theatre to put on his "Perfect Son" mask. 

"That boy," she muttered. "It takes so much patience to deal with him." Roman clenched his teeth slightly to hold back from saying something he might regret. He wasn't sure what would set his mother off, something he didn't want to do. One thing he knew for sure, Remus was right. Dealing with their mother for any extended periods of time really drained the life out of a person. 

\-----

Virgil lightly pushed Thomas down the hall of the office building they were in. "Come on, Thomas," he whispered softly and lead the younger boy to a small cleaning closet. He set his backpack down on the floor and grabbed a dull quilt and laid it down on the floor. Thomas watched quietly as he clutched his stuffed turtle close to his chest. Virgil turned to Thomas. "Okay, you can try and to sleep here. Okay? I'll come back to check on you in an hour, okay?" Thomas nodded and laid down on the quilt and watched as Virgil tucked his blanket over Thomas, making sure he was comfortable. 

"Virgil?" Thomas asked softly. 

Virgil glanced down at his younger brother as big brown eyes stared up at him. He felt his heart squeeze as Thomas's small, cubby, innocent face stared up at him, such a vulnerable look. It almost pained Virgil. It was a look his brother used to give their parents before…… well, he was sure he didn't want to bring that to the forefront of his mind at the moment. "What is it, Tommy?" 

"Will I be safe here?" 

On the inside, Virgil's heart shattered. On the outside, he smiled through the pain and ran a hand through his brother's hair. "Of course, Thomas. They can't find us. They're far away. You are safe." He leaned down and pressed a loving kiss to Thomas's forehead. "Get some rest, Thomas." Thomas snuggled deeper into his makeshift bed as Virgil stood up and pulled his jacket off, hanging it on a shelf before grabbing his work vest and pulling it on. Taking one last glance at his brother, he turned and left the closet, dragging a cart of cleaning supplies with him. 

\-----

Roman sat at his desk as he looked over the information on his computer, with a frown. He narrowed his eyes as he read over more things and then he felt a smile spread across his face. He took his glasses off and called Logan. "Hey, Logan, listening, I'm sitting in the office and I've gone through all the financial reports. I see what Brunson's doing."

"What?"

"He's got this other company interested in bidding so he's driving up his prices. That's why he took the biggest client from us." 

"Mmm, hold on," Logan's voice came through the speaker, along with the sound of paper's rustling. "I see. I'll get you a meeting with him tomorrow."

"Okay, Thank you, Logan. Tell Patton I said hi." 

"Alright, bye." Roman stood up to go get himself a cup of coffee before getting ready to go home for the night. 

\----

Virgil was on the top floor cleaning. He paused at a desk and glanced around before pulling a card out of his pocket and picking up the phone. He really had to see if he could get some help, but he left his phone with Thomas so his brother could entertain himself and he didn't want Thomas to hear just how tired he was.

Roman stepped out of his office and noticed a janitor whispering on one of the office phones. He raised an eyebrow and ran a hand through his curly chocolate colored hair. He moved to the coffee machine and waited until the man was done with his call. 

Virgil hung up and turned around to continue cleaning. He jumped suddenly as he noticed Roman standing in the corner. He quickly stuttered out an apology in an effort to keep his job. "I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't know any-anyone was here." 

Roman bit his lip as he moved to go back to his office. "You that's grounds for termination, right?" 

Virgil froze, his dark eyes blown wide. His mouth hung agape. "I-"  _ I can't lose this job. I can't lose this job! Fix it. Fix it!! _ "I-I'm sorry. Please-" 

Roman shook his head. "It's fine, just- don't do it again." 

Virgil nodded. "I won't. I promise." Roman left and Virgil let his shoulders fall and let out a sigh of relief before turning to go back to work. Roman froze right outside the door and turned back and glanced at the man again. Then it dawned on him, it was the emo nightmare who parked in his spot. "Ass," he muttered. 

Virgil whirled around. "What- you think- what the hell are you calling me an ass for?!" Virgil's mind immediately went to multiple worse case scenarios. "You think you're gonna need some ass to stay quiet?!" Roman's eyes widened as he realized just how that could be taken. He panicked as he tried to rectify the situation, but the emo nightmare was speaking so fast Roman couldn't get a word in. "I'm not going to give some rich guy a lap dance just to keep my fucking job!"

Roman shook his head frantically. "No! No! No! That's- that's not what I meant!!" He cried out in a panic. Gosh, he was not good at talking to cute emo nightmares. Wait-  _ cute?  _ Roman quickly expelled the thought from his brain. "I just- you called me that," 

Virgil raised his eyebrow, confused. He knew he has called the man in front of him ass at least once, but that wasn't out loud. So, unless the man in front of him was a mind reader, then he was mistaking him for someone else. "When?" 

"When you parked in my spot." 

The mornings events flooded through his mind and he grimaced. "Oh, yeah...that." Virgil rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I guess." 

Roman raised an eyebrow playfully. "You guess?" 

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I guess, I mean, you almost had my car towed." 

Roman nodded. "Yeah, um." He glanced down at his drink. "When I saw your child-" 

Virgil shook his head. "Thomas isn't my child. He's my brother." 

Roman's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry. I, um. Well," Roman bit his lip. "When I saw your brother in the car, he looked scared. And it reminded me of when I was younger, and my family went to the beach. My parents told me to not go into the water because they didn't know how to swim." Roman sighed. "As soon as they turned around, I ran into the ocean and I got swept under. I almost drowned. My parents were screaming at me to swim. For a child to be scared like that, it means something must be really scary. Even for an adult. Don't leave him in the car again."

Virgil clenched his hands into fists and he felt got tears burn in his eyes. "Do you have any kids? Any younger brothers?" 

"I've got a twin." 

Virgil nodded. "Yeah, don't lecture me on how to raise my brother. I was gone for five or ten minutes. And Thomas doesn't like being in places he doesn't know with lots of people. Don't-" Virgil closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. "Just don't." 

Roman frowned but turned to leave before the emo nightmare's voice stopped him. "How did you get out? Of the ocean."

Roman turned his body slightly to face the emo. "My brother. He jumped in and saved me." 

Virgil nodded. "Yeah, you should have kept your ass on the shore." With that, Virgil turned and pushed the cleaning cart away. Work was done, and it was time to get Thomas so they could sleep in the car. 

Roman watched as the emo left and felt a sharp pain stabbing his heart. He had an uncomfortable gut feeling that something was wrong here. Something was wrong. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think?


	3. Past Memories and a Nosey Boss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil remembers a past memory and worries for his brother. Roman sees his employee sitting in his car on the side of the road and decides to help. Virgil is anxious and Roman is suspicious and Thomas is hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mentions of not having enough to eat, sleeping in a car, living in a car, lying, anxious about being bullied or teased, cussing, homeless characters, brief mentions of past mugging, let me know if I missed any.

Virgil ran a hand through his purple hair as he leaned back against his seat with a sigh. He took a glance behind him to check on Thomas and let a rare fond smile fall across his face. Thomas lay across the back seat, his  _ Aladdin _ blanket wrapped tightly around him. He was almost asleep. The soft lull of Disney music filtering through the air. Virgil reached back and brushed a strand of lilac-colored hair out of his face. Virgil smiled as a memory flashed through his mind. 

\----

_ "Virgil! Virgil! Virgil!"  _

_ Virgil looked up just in time to watch his brother, Thomas, bound excitedly into the living room. Virgil let out a soft laugh as he watched the other stop in front of him and jump up and down. Thomas stopped bouncing. However, Virgil noticed he was practically vibrating where he stood. He raised an eyebrow.  _

_ "Talyn got their hair dyed and I want to get mine dyed!"  _

_ Virgil blinked. Taking a moment to process the request coming from his brother. "You want to dye your hair?" He asked cautiously.  _

_ "Yeah!" Thomas exclaimed as he nodded his head enthusiastically.  _

_ Virgil bit his lip. "Okay...we can dye your hair." _

_ "Yay-"  _

_ "But," Virgil started, cutting Thomas off. "It's not going to be permanent. It will wash out. Okay?"  _

_ Thomas wrinkled his nose but nodded quickly. "Yes!"  _

_ Virgil smiled as Thomas turned to go start on homework. Thomas froze and Virgil frowned as he noticed the stiffness to his shoulders. Thomas turned around with a look of uncertainty on his face as he twisted the straps of his backpack in his hands.  _

_ "What if...what if people laugh at me?" He asked hesitantly.  _

_ Virgil's eyes widened.  _ ** _Shit! I do not know how to handle this! _ ** _ "Why should it matter if they do?" He asked as he crouched down to Thomas's eye level. "What matters is that you," Virgil pointed at Thomas's heart. "Are happy. Okay? So what if they laugh? It's probably because they’re jealous, or they just don't want to admit you look really cool."  _

_ Thomas stared up at his brother with awe. "Really?"  _

_ Virgil nodded. "Yup! And even still, Talyn And Joan won't laugh. If you're really nervous, I can dye my hair with you, how does that sound?"  _

_ Thomas gasped. "But Virgil, you don't like standing out! Won't purple hair make you stand out?"  _

_ Virgil frowned. "Purple? I thought you would have chosen red."  _

_ Thomas shook his head. "Yeah, but purple is your favorite color, and it has some red in it and I want us to match and Talyn said red is hard."  _

_ Virgil rapidly blinked as he felt teary-eyed. "Oh! That makes sense." _

_ Thomas surged forward and wrapped Virgil in a hug as tight as he could make it—which wasn't very tight considering he was still kid-sized. _

_ "Thank you thank you thank you!!" He turned and went back to getting his homework and Virgil let a smile move across his face.  _

_ It was rare to see Thomas so happy like this. After everything happened, it took a while for Thomas to start being even remotely like his old self again. Virgil knew he would never be the same but he wished his brother would at least be happier. And he was so grateful when Thomas came home excitedly shouting about new friends. Virgil knew he would do anything to keep that smile on his brother's face. Anything.  _

\------

"V?" Virgil blinked out of the memory and looked down to see Thomas peeking up at him from behind his bangs. 

"Hey," Virgil whispered softly. He climbed out of his seat and kneeled in front of his brother. "Having trouble sleeping?"

Thomas nodded, his eyes cast downwards as he mumbled. "I'm hungry." 

Virgil tried to control his facial features. Keeping his grimace inside his mind, he leaned back and frowned. "Hhm, now we can't have a Prince be so hungry!" 

Thomas giggled. Virgil grabbed his backpack and examined its contents. He had about ten boxes of granola bars, two bags of pretzels, and a few boxes of drink mixes. He reached in and pulled out a bar handing it to Thomas. "Here, eat up. Then try to get some sleep, you've got school tomorrow." 

"Thanks, V." Thomas sat up and started munching on the bar as Virgil moved to sit back in the driver's seat. He let out a sigh as he looked straight ahead as he tried to figure out what to do. 

The food in his backpack was all they had. And he had some money set aside for gas and drinks. But he didn't know how long it would last.  _ I have two water bottles. I can fill those up for us and I can let Thomas use the drink mixes if he doesn't want just water. And I don't have to eat as much. Maybe half a bar of granola every four days.  _

Virgil watched an expensive silver car out of the corner of his vision as it slowed to a stop on the other side of the road. Frowning, he turned to find the man from earlier motion for him to roll his window down. "Are you following me?" He asked once he had rolled down his window. 

The man turned to look at the back window and called out, "Where'd you come from little Prince?" 

Virgil sighed as he realized Thomas had popped up to see who he was talking to. 

"The babysitter just dropped him off. Thomas, please sit down," Virgil said. A quick excuse. An easy little lie. 

"You know, you really shouldn't sit on these side streets. My secretary got mugged while going to her car one night-"

Virgil huffed as he called out, "Thank you!" And rolled his window back up. "Princey needs to just go," he muttered. 

The guy in the car motioned for him to roll his window down again. Virgil huffed angrily. "What do you want?" 

"Are you okay? You're just sitting here."

"My car won't start, but it's fine." 

"I don't know much about cars, but I could call a tow truck for you?" 

"You did that already, Princey. I don't want to repeat that," Virgil snarked. 

The guy in the car let out a short laugh. "Yeah, but this time to help you ...I could drop you and your brother off somewhere if you'd like?"

_ Why won't you just leave us alone?!?!?  _ "No, I've got a friend who's gonna be here soon-"

"Someone's on their way?" The man asked, cutting Virgil off. 

Virgil huffed angrily. "Yeah, so you don't have to-"

"Okay, I'll wait then," the man flashed a bright grin. "I'll just find a spot.." 

"No! What?!?!" Virgil watched as the other man drove closer to the end of the street. "He's not gonna-" the man parked. "He-" Virgil frowned and let out an annoyed huff. "Thomas, could you sit down and be quiet? We don't know anything about this man. He's a stranger." 

Thomas nodded and sat down and pulled his blanket tighter around himself. 

Virgil watched as the man climbed out of his car and walked across the street. He fought to keep the annoyance off his face as the man climbed into the passenger seat. "I did not invite you into my car, Princey." 

The man flashed another smile at him. "I know, so I invited myself. And Princey?" 

Virgil glared at the man. "Yeah, Princey, just like you to be stuck up and do whatever you want."

The man let out a string of offended noises as a hand flew to his chest. "Excuse me-"

Thomas let out a small giggle and the man turned back to him with a broad grin, something about it reminded Virgil of the kind of people who worked as characters for kids. "Hi, what's your name?" 

Thomas bit his lip and shot a glance at Virgil. "I'm not supposed to tell my names to strangers," he mumbled. 

The man's eyes rose in surprise. "Oh! Oh! How silly of me, how dare I ask for your name without giving mine first. I am Roman! At your service." 

Thomas giggled. "I'm Thomas!" 

"Thomas?" Roman asked and the other nodded enthusiastically. "Well! Thomas is quite a noble name! Are you perhaps a Prince? A knight in disguise?" 

Thomas giggled as he shook his head. "N-no!" He cried out as he laughed. "I'm just Thomas!" 

Roman's eyes widened comically. "Oh no! You are not "just Thomas". I assure you that there is a very real possibility that you are royalty or of noble blood. And I'm sure your brother agrees?" He turned to Virgil who was watching the whole ordeal with both fond and cautious expressions. 

Thomas and Roman stared at him expectedly as they waited for his response. "I think he's right, Thomas. I mean, you could very well be royalty." 

Thomas's eyes sparked with the prospect. "Does that make you a Prince too!?!" 

Roman chuckled as Virgil froze. "Yes it does," Roman replied coming to Virgil's rescue. Thomas giggled and pulled a blanket up around him. Roman smiled fondly before turning to Virgil and raising an eyebrow. "Did you hear my name?" He whispered. 

Virgil scoffed. "Obviously I did Princey. You just told him." 

Roman laughed. "That doesn't mean you heard." 

Virgil rolled his eyes. "It’s Roman. Yeah, you'd think this was an interrogation."

Roman stifled a laugh. "It’s Roman Deeds." 

Virgil froze.  _ Deeds. Deeds. Deeds. DEEDS! DEEDS!! DEEDS!!!!  _ The name bounced around in Virgil's head. "Oh," was all he said. Then. "I'm sorry-"

"And you are?" Roman asked, cutting Virgil off. 

Virgil closed his eyes. "Unemployed."

Roman chuckled. "No. I'm not going to fire you."

Virgil gripped at his jeans, his nails biting into his palms. "I am mortified. I am so sorry for calling you an ass." 

Roman laughed. "It's fine. Now, were you going to give me your name or was I going to have to ask your brother?" 

Virgil shook his head. "I'm Virgil." 

Roman smiled.  _ Virgil.  _ It was a pretty name. "Good to meet you, Virgil."

Virgil nodded slightly. "You too," he said. Not because it was the polite thing to do but it was a bit..refreshing to talk to someone who wouldn't look him with pity or disgust. The car went silent for a few awkward minutes. In the back, Thomas sat joyfully playing with his stuffed animals. He was introducing them all to a new one. Virgil had gotten it earlier that day. As a way to apologize to Thomas before he could fix everything. Virgil sighed. "You don't have to stay here. We'll be fine." 

Roman shook his head. "No, really, it's all good."

"No, it’s fine, real-"

"My secretary was mugged. I had her working late and all so I felt bad..."

Virgil stopped Roman with a blank look. "I'm guessing you want to stay in the car."

Roman nodded "Yeah if you don't mind, of course. I'd just feel a lot better if you had someone here to keep you safe-" 

Virgil nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Thomas stopped playing for a moment. "Prince Roman-"

Roman waved his hand. "Please, just Roman is fine your highness." 

Thomas giggled before continuing. "Do you work with my brother?" 

Roman nodded. "Yup." 

"What floor?"

"All the way on the top floor." 

Thomas visibly brightened, having something else to share with the prince. "I was on the top floor!" 

Virgil's eyes widened and he quickly butts in. "No, Thomas, uh, you're thinking of a different building."

Thomas frowned before sitting back and going back to playing with his stuffed animals.

Roman looked between the two, suspicious. He let his eyes inspect the car closer and notice boxes and trash bags piled in the back. "You guys sure have a lot of stuff in here.."

Virgil felt his heart rate spike with anxiety. "Yeah, we're in the process of moving. So..we're almost done. We'll be done soon." 

Roman frowned, unconvinced. "What part of town?" 

Virgil bit his lip, thinking. "I don't think you would know it," he said. Trying to change the subject while thinking of a way of getting Roman out of his car so he and Thomas could get gas. He was thankfully? Saved by Thomas's stomach grumbling. Guilt stabbed Virgil's heart and he had to suppress his tears. 

"Was that your stomach?" Roman asked as he turned to Thomas with a small chuckle. 

Virgil frowned. "Did the babysitter not feed you?" He asked Thomas. Thomas bit his lip. 

Roman shot Thomas a wink. "There's a pizza joint just up the block. We can walk there if you'd like?" 

Virgil shook his head quickly. "I-I left my wallet at home-" 

Roman waved his hands. "No, no. It’s fine. I got it. My treat. Come on." He opened the door and hopped out. Virgil bit his lip as he climbed out and then helped Thomas out of the car. "Let’s go!" Roman cried out before leading the way with a funny walk, causing Thomas to giggle. 

Virgil was nervous. On one hand, Thomas was getting food and on the other, this was a stranger. A complete stranger. His boss. An adult. A responsible adult. One who could call child services and end up getting Thomas taken away from him. Taken away and sent back to- he stopped, shaking that train of thought out of his head. He forced a smile onto his face and the three walked to the pizza parlor.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think? Sorry it took so long to get it out to those who have been waiting for an update.


	4. Pizza! Pizza!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umm sorry? I guess? For taking so long to update. I'm gonna to try to update more frequently but considering how my writing is doing in the comments and reviews department is so unmotivating. But I'll try I guess.

Virgil picked at his pizza as Roman and Thomas ate their own dinner happily. Thomas was eating a little too fast but Virgil couldn't exactly blame him. "You're really enjoying that pizza, aren't you?" Roman asked, amused as he noticed how fast Thomas was eating. Virgil bit his lip nervously and took a bite of pizza to try and seem normal as he pleaded that Roman didn't find Thomas's eating speed suspicious. 

Thomas paused to swallow a bite of the pizza. "Yeah, it's really good." 

Roman grinned. "I should hope so, this place has some of the best pizza I've ever tasted." Virgil carefully let the tension in his muscles relax a bit. It seemed as if the coast was clear. Roman bit off a bit of pizza as he side-eyed Virgil's piece and noticed he was still on his first piece. Maybe a bite or two taken out of it. Roman found himself worrying about these two yet again. Could Virgil have eating problems? Could he be allergic to something? Roman's eyes widened in utter horror. "You're not allergic to cheese or anything, are you?" He asked quickly. "I'm so sorry, I should have asked." 

Virgil blinked. "Uhh, no. I'm not allergic to anything." 

Roman let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the stars. I was so worried when I noticed you'd hardly eaten anything and I realized I hadn't even thought to ask you if the pizza was okay."

"Oh.." Virgil trailed off and lifted up his unfinished slice of pizza and ripped off a big bite. He made a show of chewing before swallowing the food. "I think you're right. It's really good pizza." He smiled sheepishly at Roman as the other blinked before his face broke out it a wide grin. 

"I knew it!" He exclaimed. "You see, I have this friend who claims they've had pizza better than this and we always argue about it and I've never had anyone on my side before but now I've got the both of you on my side. In your face Logan!" 

Thomas giggled as he finished his slices of pizza before glancing behind him at the Pac man game set up in the corner of the room again. Roman raised an eyebrow as he peaked at what Thomas was looking at. "You know.." He started. "I have seen you eye that game a few times during dinner, do you want to play?" 

Thomas bit his lip. "Yeah..but we don't have money for games," he all but whispered, too nervous to upset his brother. He wasn't a stupid kid by no means and he knew his brother would feel horrible if he even hinted that he wanted more. Even worse would be his brother doing everything he could to get that more for Thomas and let himself go without something he needed just for Thomas's sake. 

"No, no," Roman started. "Fun stuff should be free. Let's go. I got some money." Roman got up and led Thomas over to the arcade game and set it up for him. While the two were gone, Virgil quickly scarfed down the rest of his first piece and half of his second piece of pizza before pausing to chew and swallow before Roman got back. 

Roman came back with a bright grin as he sat across from Virgil again. "He's a really cool kid," Roman commented. 

Virgil allowed himself a soft smile as he glanced back at his brother playing the arcade game. "Yeah. He really is."

"Why'd he eat so fast?" Roman chuckled. "You'd almost think he was starving." 

Virgil froze and quickly swallowed the lump in his throat. "Kids always seem to eat too fast. Always in a hurry to go play and such," he responded as calmly as he could. He couldn't have Roman getting any more suspicious. 

"Ah. Yeah, I can see why. Less food time, more time to play." 

Virgil laughed nervously. "Yeah." Virgil nibbled on his pizza as he began to feel uncomfortable. 

A song came on over the speakers and Roman's eyes lit up. "Oh! I love this song!"

Virgil snickered as he recognized the song. "Are you a Disney fan?" 

Roman nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! When I was little I used to sing all the songs and dance around like I was on stage! Then once I got into school, I auditioned for every musical and play. I finally started getting the lead in high school. It was so magical and enchanting." Roman sighed wistfully. "But it was simply not meant to be."

Virgil frowned. "Why?" 

Roman became suddenly quiet and shrugged. "Well, my father passed the company on to me and my mother wasn't too fond of my…' playing pretend'." 

Virgil's frown deepened. "Why didn't you follow your dreams? I mean, did you have to do what your parents expected you to do?" 

Roman paused.  _ Did he?  _ "I….I guess I was too scared to disappoint them." 

Virgil shook his head. "Is it really worth it being miserable to make them happy?"

"Miserable?" Roman asked. 

Virgil froze. "I-I'm sorry. I assumed you- I. Forget it," he mumbled. 

Roman bit his lip. "What about you? Did you always want to be a janitor?" 

Virgil sighed. "No. I uh.." He chuckled humorlessly. "I actually wanted to be a musician. Write some songs and post them to YouTube. Maybe make some money off of it. Maybe work at a local theatre as a techie or in the pit." 

Roman felt like this wasn't going to end well. "What happened?" 

Virgil bit his lip. Did he tell the other that he had to give up his free time to get a second job to take care of his brother and get away from their parents? He let out a huff and shook his head. The risk wasn't worth it. "I had to take care of my brother. I didn't have time for free time. I got a second job and took care of Thomas for the rest of the time." 

Roman stared at Virgil with something Virgil wasn't used to seeing directed at him. It wasn't pitiful like he was so accustomed to seeing on strangers who took in his clothes and adults who looked at him when he had gotten too much at the store and had to put something back. It was a look of empathy. It surprised Virgil. "So, why haven't you tried pursuing it again?" Roman asked cautiously. 

Virgil sighed and glanced back at Thomas to check on him. "I don't have the time," he answered simply. Roman frowned. "So," Virgil started as he looked down at the table shamefully. "Am I fired?" He asked. 

Roman blanched. "What?!? No! Of course not! I've never heard of you causing trouble before and it's not like you were stealing anything or destroying anything. You seem like a good worker, I'm not going to fire you over one little thing." 

Virgil let out a silent, relieved sigh. "Thank you." 

"And besides," Roman started cheekily. "Nobody has ever talked to me like that before. You park in my spot and call me an ass." Roman chuckled. "You made this a very interesting day." 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "If that's true, it's sad." 

Roman frowned. "Sad? What's sad?" 

"That people never tell you the truth." 

Roman burst out laughing. "Oh, my stars. Oh, people tell me the truth, they're just not rude when they say it." 

Virgil snickered. "I beg to differ. I mean, correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think there's a nice of calling someone an ass." 

Roman tried to fight the smile that was breaking across his face but he decided to just let loose. It's not like his mom would know. Besides, this might have been the most he's laughed in a while, and he was damn well going to enjoy it while he could.

"So," Roman started once he got his laughing under control. "How long have you been working for the company?"

Virgil thought for a moment as he checked on Thomas. The younger brother happily playing the game with the change Roman had given him to do so. "Um, I'd say about two years now." 

"Oh," Roman said, an awkward silence now stretching between them. Roman wiped his palms on his slacks as they began to sweat. He hadn't felt this nervous talking to someone since high school. "So, what is it, exactly, that you do? What is Deeds Incorporated?" 

Roman let out a relieved breath as Virgil checked on Thomas again after his question. Finally, something he should be able to answer without looking stupid. "Well," he started. "My father was a whiz with computers. He came up with great software and sold it to the government. Top secret. Then, 20 years ago, he got it declassified and went public-" 

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Virgil started. "I'm not a genius so dumb it down for me. What do you sell?"

Roman grinned and laughed. "We sell computer software." 

Virgil let out a breath. "Okay! Thank you!" He exclaimed. 

Roman giggled as Thomas came over with a yawn. "Vee," he started sleepily. "When's bedtime?" Roman felt his heart melt for the little guy as Virgil reached down and picked him up. 

"Soon, Tommy. Soon." Virgil stood and placed Thomas on his hip as he turned to Roman. "Thank you for the pizza. But you know I really should get back to my car. I don't know how my friend will react if he sees me with you." 

Roman frowned. "Is your friend normally this…" he paused, choosing his words carefully. "..possessive?"

Virgil's anxiety spiked as he realized how Roman took it. "No! It's just- he's my boyfriend,"

Roman's frown deepened as he pulled out a 20 to place on the table to pay for their meal. "I-" he started. He really didn't think it was safe for Virgil and Thomas if they didn't know how this "boyfriend" would react to seeing Virgil around another man. (Some part of Roman's mind filed away the fact that Virgil was gay as important information.) "Has your boyfriend ever been so...jealous to be violent?" 

An anxious air spilled out between them. Virgil winced. He really was in deep with this lie. Might as well dig even further. "Oh no! He just gets insecure and tries to make me jealous, that's all." Virgil laughed awkwardly. "You understand, don't you?" 

Roman bit his lip. He could see in some way. And he really didn't want to be pushy. But something just didn't sit right with him. However, he knew he couldn't do anything. The two had only just met and Virgil didn't seem like the type of person to trust someone he met hours before. “I understand," he answered. "I should be getting home anyway." He stood up beside Virgil who nodded his head. 

"Did you want me to get some of that?" Virgil asked as he glanced at the table. 

"Oh no!" Roman shook his head. "You're in the process of moving and that must have surely taken a lot out of your budget. I can handle it." 

The three left the pizza shop as Virgil half wished he could have taken some of the money Roman had left on the table but he knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do so. And really, he didn't have to eat. Thomas could eat what they have now, it would last longer and Virgil would be able to make sure he was healthy. Because that's all that really mattered was that Thomas was healthy. Virgil would live. It was fine. 

They walked in a fairly comfortable silence until they reached Virgil's car. "Thank you for the pizza. I know Thomas really enjoyed it," Virgil said as he opened the door and placed Thomas in his seat. 

Roman smiled softly. "Well, did you like it?" A part of his brain told him he shouldn't be flirting but another part of his brain couldn't help himself. 

Virgil flushed slightly as he took in Roman's fairly handsome face with an expression that made him soft. "Yes, thank you." 

Roman grinned before he handed Virgil some money. "Here, as a thank you for spending some time with me." He chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I live alone and it gets to me sometimes,"  _ more like all of the time.  _ "It was nice to spend time with someone instead of going back to my apartment alone. And I just wanted to thank you for your time." He blushed as he tried to keep his eyes to the ground while he held out the money to Virgil. 

Virgil's eyes widened and began shaking his hands. "Oh no! It's okay. It was...nice." Virgil was well aware that he needed the money. Very well aware. But something stopped him. And he knew that he would feel incredibly guilty if he took the money. 

Roman's head shot up. "Oh please! I insist!" 

Virgil shook his head. "No. I really don't think I should." 

Roman huffed. "Well..fine.." He deflated so much that Virgil almost considered taking the money only if for a smile to spread across the other’s kind face. "Is it okay if I say goodbye to Thomas?" Roman asked sweetly. "I know its weird, but I almost feel like he's my own brother. You've really got a good brother here." Roman grinned slyly. "And his brother isn't so bad looking." 

Virgil blinked as he tried to process. A blush spreading like a wildfire across his pale face. "I-" 

Roman shook his head. "No, it's okay, I know you have a boyfriend. Just thought you needed to know." 

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. You can say goodbye to Thomas. 

Roman smiled happily and kneeled on the floor of the car. "Hey, Prince Thomas!" He exclaimed. 

"Prince Roman!" Thomas grinned.

Roman chuckled. "It was really nice meeting you. You'll have to tell your brother to bring you by sometime, how does that sound?" 

Thomas's face lit up joyfully. "Yes!" He giggled. 

Roman internally awed at the adorableness he had the good fortune of witnessing. He lowered his voice. "Alright, do you think you're up for a quest?" He asked. 

Thomas's eyes blew wide. "Yes!" He whispered just as excitedly. Virgil allowed a soft fond smile spread across his lips as he watched the two interact. 

Roman grinned. "Perfect." He held up the money and handed it gently to Thomas. "Do you think you are up for the challenge of giving this to your brother once I leave?" 

Thomas stared at the money in his hand. He wasn't stupid. He knew Virgil needed this. He knew they needed this. "Yes, I can!" Thomas answered as his face twisted into one of determination. 

Roman giggled. "You will do well, young prince. Farewell!" Roman exclaimed as he climbed out of the car. "May our paths meet again someday soon!" 

Thomas dissolved into a fit of giggles as Virgil rolled his eyes and shut the car door. "Thank you again," he said as he turned around and went to get in the driver's seat. 

Roman smiled. "You're welcome." He bit his lip. "I-if it's okay, maybe we could hang out some?"

Virgil paused. Thinking it over he decided there was no harm in agreeing. He made Thomas happy. And that's all that mattered. "Sure” he answered. 

Roman grinned. "Yay! Alright, I'll see you around." Roman walked across the road and climbed into his car. He took one last glance at Virgil and Thomas before pulling off. A smile played at his lips. Today was a nice day. 

\-----

Virgil watched as Roman pulled off. "That man is very persistent." He climbed out of the car and walked around to open Thomas's door and pulling the gas can out. "Come on Thomas. Let’s go get gas." 

"Virgil," Thomas started. 

The older brother stopped and turned back to Thomas, scared that he was hurt. "What is it?" 

Thomas held his hand, the one hundred dollar bill sitting neatly in his palm. "Prince Roman sent me on a quest to give this to you once he left." 

Virgil blinked. "That smooth motherfu-" he stopped. He reached forward and took the money the other held out to him.  _ That man sure is something.  _ He thought to himself. "You did a wonderful job completing your quest, Prince Thomas," he exclaimed as he ruffled the others' hair. Thomas smiled brightly and the two were off on their journey to the gas station. Virgil thought about the money in his pocket and a blush rose upon his cheeks. 


	5. Thomas Has a Scare and Roman is Suspicious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mentions of homelessness, characters struggling with homelessness, Remus, bad language? Thomas has a anxiety attack, argument, characters dealing with little food, mentions of past child abuse, Let me know if I missed any.

Early morning light slowly flooded the van, rudely waking Virgil up. He groaned and sat up as he fumbled around for a few moments before his hand found the lever to pop the back of the seat back up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before grabbing his phone and checking the time. 6:30 A.M. he sighed and glanced back at Thomas sleeping soundly in the back, their belongings shielding the sun from shining into his face. Virgil allowed a soft smile to spread across his face. He moved around a bit to make sure Thomas was secure in his seat before turning the van on with a low rubble. Virgil winced and glanced back at Thomas to check if he was still asleep and let out a sigh of relief when I saw that he still was. Virgil pulled out of the parking lot of the Walmart and drove to a nearby gas station for a single restroom.

With a reluctant heart, Virgil turned around and gently shook Thomas awake. "Thomas," he whispered softly. It's time to get up." Thomas shifted as he made a small grunt before blinking blearily. "It's time to get ready for school." 

Thomas groaned and sat up, his hair sticking up at odd angles. "I don't' wanna,'" he whined slightly. 

"Oh, really?" Virgil asked with an exaggerated and teasing tone. Thomas hummed in agreement and plopped back into his pillow face first. Virgil sighed dramatically. "Oh well. I guess I have to tell Talyn and Joan you don't want to be their friends anymore."

"No!" Thomas shrieked as he shot up and quickly scrambled to grab his backpack. "I'm excited for school! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Virgil laughed and got out of the car. He went around and opened the side toward and Thomas hopped out. "We're going to brush your teeth and clean your face in the bathroom, okay?" Virgil asked. 

"Okay." 

The two walked in and went straight to the bathroom where Virgil pulled out a zip lock bag and handed it to Thomas. "Brush your teeth and go to the bathroom. Once you're done, I'll wash your face." Thomas nodded and started brushing his teeth as his brother did the same. "What time is breakfast at school?" Virgil after he spits. 

"7:30," Thomas answered around a mouthful of toothpaste. 

Virgil hummed and pulled out his phone, checking the time. "Okay, it's 6:50 now and we have around a fifteen-minute drive to school. So long as we're out of here by 7 we should be good." Thomas nodded and spit before rinsing his mouth out. He moved to go to the bathroom while Virgil pulled out some soft wipes and wiped his face and hair. As Thomas washed his hands, Virgil wiped his hair and brushed it before wiping his face clean. "Ready?" Virgil asked after he tossed the wipes away. 

"Yup!" 

"Okay." The two stepped out of the bathroom and Virgil went down an aisle to grab a box of granola and went to the counter to pay. Once done, the two walked out and hopped into the van and were on their way to school. "Make sure to save whatever you can't eat okay?" Virgil asked as they drove down the road. 

Thomas nodded. "Okay, I will." 

Virgil sighed. "I'm sorry you have to do this." 

Thomas frowned. "What do you mean, Vee?" 

"This, the sneaking around and saving leftover food from school just so you can eat a decent amount." 

Thomas cocked his head curiously from where he sat in the back seat. "But, Verge, I used to do this all the time." 

Virgil paused. "You did?" He asked. 

Thomas nodded. "Yeah! The school has these really good things they have for breakfast and I really really like it! So I sometimes don't eat it and save it for later!" 

Virgil blinked. "You're...not bothered by this?" 

Thomas shook his head quickly. "Nope. It's like an adventure!" 

Virgil sat in silence for a few moments. "Well...Okay…" Virgil still felt guilty for how much responsibility his younger brother was having to take upon himself. This wasn't right, Thomas was supposed to be a kid. He was supposed to have fun and cry over things not getting to have sleepovers with his friends every night. He shouldn't be worried about getting kicked out and being homeless. Virgil shook the thoughts out of his head. He could wait until later. Now wasn't the time to cry. Thomas couldn't see. 

Finally, he pulled up to the school. Thomas hopped out with an "I love you! See you later!" And Virgil replied in kind with a small smile before he drove off once Thomas was safe inside the school doors. 

\------

As Virgil drove he allowed the thoughts to come back. They raced around his head, zipping around rapidly with a vengeance. _ You're a horrible brother. What have you done? You can't even keep your brother protected, you useless piece of shit. You're no better than your parents. _ Virgil sighed. Used to the negative words aimed at him by now, he parked his car and climbed out before jogging across the street to get in line beside a fairly small building. His stomach grumbled and he flushed red as he was sure others must be looking at him. _ I'm so embarrassed. _ He thought. It didn't even occur to him that he was in line to try and get a spot in a homeless shelter and the other people probably were used to hearing that sort of noise. Virgil felt hot pain shoot through his stomach and grimaced. _ Just ignore it, Virgil. It'll go away after a while. _

After a few minutes, Virgil was at the front of the line. 

"Name?" 

"Virgil." 

"Go in." 

Virgil grimaced. "I can't-I have a job and uh can't you hold a spot?" 

The person looked up from their clipboard. "No, I'm sorry that's against the rules." 

Virgil thought about arguing but quickly got out of line and rushed to his van. His face hot and tears already spilling down his face. A weight pressed down heavily on his shoulders as he climbed into his seat and started the engine. _ Get yourself together you idiot. _ Virgil roughly wiped the tears away and began driving away. _ You couldn't even get your brother a decent place to sleep for the night. You're such a failure. _Virgil hummed softly and pulled into the parking garage. A quick check of the time told him he had a few hours until he had to pick up Thomas and then it was back to work again. With a heavy sigh, Virgil climbed out of the van and walked inside. 

\-------

Roman stood as a couple walked into the well-lit meeting room. "We appreciate you seeing us this morning, Mr. and Mrs. Charleston." He shook the man's hand before sitting down. 

"What is this about?" The man asked as he sat down, his wife beside him. The two looked stick and severe. Roman could swear the room had dropped a few degrees in temperature since they came in but that was probably just him being dramatic. 

"We would like to buy your company." 

The man seemed to stiffen, if at all possible, with anger. "My father worked his entire life building that company." 

"So did ours," Remus added angrily. Roman grimaced but kept from saying anything. He didn't particularly like making these sorts of deals. It made him feel cold. 

"Well, I am aware of that," Mr. Charleston replied. 

Roman refrained from biting his lip. "I've been looking at your quarterly reports for the last three years. It doesn't seem like things are looking so good. I don't believe you can survive with those numbers." 

"We can. We have been for years," the other replied, anger laced in his tone. "And now that we have picked up Dexter Rose, things are looking up." 

Roman nodded with a fake smile. Virgil was right, he really was miserable. "Ah, yes, one of our biggest clients. You pulled them out from under us." 

"In order to do so, you would have had to make heavy promises. That would put you in a very good position to sell," Logan replied from where he sat beside Roman. 

"That's right Logan. You know, if I were in the same position I probably would have done the same thing." 

The man narrowed his eyes. "You think I did all of these things to get you to buy my company?" 

"Of course." 

The man hummed. "Your father groomed you boys from birth to run his company. He managed to raise a stellar successor." Roman kept his face still as he internally eyed the other suspiciously. "I admired your father. He took a small computer company and turned it into all of this. He was a very brilliant man." 

"Oh, yeah. Well, too bad you weren't man enough to say it to his face when he was alive," Remus grunted. 

Roman's eyes blew wide. "Remus." 

"No, all this guy ever did was torment him."

"Remus." 

"You would rather climb into your own fucking grave than watch two brothers beat you at your own damn game."

The couple huffed and stood. "Good day, gentlemen," he turned and left. 

"Mr. Charleston! Wait! Sir!" 

Roman sighed, tension running through his body. He glanced at his brother and Logan before just walking out to go back to his office. This job was too much. Stress 24/7. He wanted a break. He wanted a new job. He didn't want this life. This was supposed to be Remus's job. This was supposed to Remus in this situation. But no, Dad had given him the job because Remus had started drinking. Roman groaned and sat with his head on his desk. _ I'm miserable. _

\------

Thomas stood next to Talyn and Joan as they all waited for their parents, or in his case, his brother. "Can I play the dragon witch tomorrow?" Talyn asked as they pulled their backpack up around their shoulders. 

"Sure!" Thomas exclaimed as his brother pulled up in the van. "That's Virgil! I'll see you tomorrow! Bye Talyn! Bye Joan!" 

"Bye!" The young kiddos exclaimed as Thomas climbed into the back. Virgil waved to them before pulling away. 

"How was school?" Virgil asked. 

"Oh! It was great! They had these cinnamon rolls for breakfast and I saved it. I think I'll taste better right before bed."

Virgil chuckled. "Oh really?" He asked as they drove through the city towards his work. 

Thomas nodded from his seat. "Yeah! And I got all my homework done already!" 

"That's great!" Virgil exclaimed. 

"Yeah! Talyn, Joan, and I all worked on it together. Then we played Imagination at recess." 

"Ooo! What happened?" 

"I was the prince and Joan was the dragon witch and Talyn was the royal who got kidnapped. And I had to go help them escape! But when I got there, they were locked in the dungeon and I had to defeat the dragon witch to save them!" 

Virgil laughed. "And did you?"

Thomas nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I made the dragon witch my friend. And tomorrow Talyn's gonna be the dragon witch!" 

"That sounds cool!" 

"It is!" Thomas agreed.

Virgil bit his lip and pulled into the McDonald's drive-thru against his better judgment. "What kinda toy do you want?" He asked Thomas. 

Thomas's eyes lit up and he looked at the menu.

"Ooo! I want the prince!" He exclaimed. 

Virgil looked and nodded. "Alright! One prince coming up!" Virgil ordered and soon Thomas was munching happily on chicken nuggets while Virgil fought to open up the plastic wrapping around the prince. 

"Hey!" Thomas exclaimed. 

Virgil froze. "What? What's wrong?" 

"Aren't you gonna eat?" Thomas asked worriedly. 

Virgil bit his lip. "Oh no. I ate a little before I picked you up. I'm not hungry right now." 

Thomas frowned. "But you'll eat later, right?" 

Virgil handed Thomas the unwrapped prince toy with a silent sigh. "Of course," he lied. Thomas tried to see past the lie. "Now, I have to get back to work soon, and you'll be staying in the cleaning closet again, are you okay with that?" Thomas nodded. "And you remember to stay put right?" Another nod. Virgil smiled sadly. "That's a good kiddo." 

\---------

Roman was once again stuck in his office late. This was becoming the normal though so at least he had brought himself a thermos of soup this time. He moved the papers he had been staring at for hours off to the corner of his desk before pulling out the thermos and spoon he had kept in his desk drawer. With a sad and lonely sigh, he unscrewed the thermos and set it down. He grabbed his spoon and began eating slowly. 

The silence of the office slowly began to drive him crazy as he sat there. Eventually, he grew irritated and bored and set his thermos down only to accidentally knock it over when he moved to grab the lid. "Shit!" He exclaimed and pulled the thermos upright and quickly screwed the lid on as he assessed the damage. It wasn't that bad but there was broth nearly all over his desk. Roman groaned and stood up and walked out of his office in search of some paper towels. Down a hallway and to the right he would a storage room and quickly opened the door and picked up a roll of paper towels. He turned to go only to pick up on faint music. He turned around and nearly screamed. 

Laying in between two shelves on a pile of blankets laid a small child, their face lit up softly by the light from a laptop. Roman frowned. Upon closer inspection, he suddenly noticed it was Thomas. "Thomas!?!?!" He exclaimed. 

The poor kid shot up, fear pounding through his heart as he realized he had been caught. What was going to happen now?!?! Was Virgil going to get into trouble?!?! Was he going to be sent back to that house?!? Were those people going to take him!?!? "Please don't hurt me!" Thomas cried out hysterically. 

Roman's eyes widened and he quickly kneeled down to appear less threatening. "Hey," he called softly. "Hey, Thomas, it's just me. It's Prince Roman. I'm here to protect you." 

Thomas slowly registered the figure in front of him and then proceeded to fling himself into the other's arms. "Don't let them take me!" Thomas cried out. "Please don't let them take us!" He sobbed as he clung to Roman's torso. Roman frowned and picked up Thomas's things and secured his arms around the young boy. 

"Everything is going to be okay," Roman soothed as he carried the sobbing child to his office and laid him down on the couch. "Here," he whispered softly. "Stay right here and I'll go get your brother, okay?" 

"Don't let them hurt him!" Thomas cried out as tears poured down his face. 

Roman bit his lip. "I won't I promise. You'll be safe in here and once I get your brother, he'll be safe in here too." Roman quickly left his office, not entirely sure he should leave Thomas alone but 100% sure that he needed to find Virgil. However, Virgil must have looked into the storage closet and noticed Thomas was gone because he suddenly ran into Roman. "Woah, slow down-" 

"No, please-" Virgil cried, as tears spilled from his eyes. 

"He's with me. In my office okay. Come on." 

"What?" Virgil exclaimed even as he followed Roman into the big corner office where the sounds of Thomas's sobs bounced off the walls. "Thomas!" Virgil exclaimed as he slid to his side and quickly pulled him into a tight hug. 

"Verge!" Thomas sobbed. "I thought they had taken you! I-" 

"Shhh," Virgil shushed softly as he cradled his brother and rocked them back and forth. "It's okay. Everything's fine. They're not here. You're okay. I'm okay." 

Roman stayed quiet as he stood by awkwardly. Once Thomas had calmed down and seemed to be sleeping, he finally spoke what was on his mind. "Why was Thomas in the closet?" Roman wasn't prepared for the look Virgil gave him as the other shot his head up to glare at him. Roman grimaced. "Look, I'm sorry. But I need to know, you can't just leave your brother in a closet in a building he doesn't know." 

Virgil huffed. "Oh really? And what do you know?" 

Roman glanced to the side uneasily. "Virgil," he started. "Come on." 

"No!" Virgil whispered harshly as he stood with Thomas tucked against his chest. "I don't-I-" Virgil huffed, frustrated. "I don't owe you an explanation." He walked to the door with an angry huff only to pause as those dangerous words spilled from Roman's mouth. 

"I could call Child Welfare." 

"Call child welfare and send a kid back to his abusive parents?" Virgil questioned coldly. It felt like a slap to Roman's face. "Yeah, good fucking job on that one." He turned and left. But Roman heard one last sentence from Virgil. "I just don't want to lose my brother." 

Roman stood frozen. The last bit sounding soft, vulnerable. He felt like he had been shot. Stabbed? He wasn't sure. All he knew was it hurt. Was it guilt? Was it heartbreak? Roman bit his lip, unsure of what to do now. He was torn, while a child shouldn't be in a closet and it raised his suspicions, he supposed it was the only option Virgil may have had. If their parents were truly as terrible as Virgil hinted at, and Child Welfare wasn't aware, then they would surely just send them right back unless they had reason to believe Virgil. And who knows what their parents did. They could have claimed Virgil was a drug addict, made it seem like he was high and stole his brother. Play the pity card. 

Roman's heart twisted painfully. If he hadn't said that, maybe he could have talked to Virgil and gotten more information. Earned his trust so he could help him. But he had to go and screw it up. Roman let himself fall back onto the couch and slump down into a sad ball. This was a delicate situation. Very delicate. He didn't know the whole story, and judging the way Thomas was crying, there was a "them" he was scared of and who had hurt Virgil. And judging by how close the two were, it wouldn't be wise to somehow separate them. Roman tried to imagine being separated from his brother in such a way and despite a few negative feelings he had towards his brother, he knew he would be devastated. Roman sighed. "Yes. A delicate situation indeed." 

\-------

Virgil sat in the front seat of his van. Behind him, Thomas slept peacefully in the third-row seat as the night slowly passed. _ I shouldn't have said that. _ Virgil thought as he bit his thumbnail. And really, he probably shouldn't have. He didn't actually know Roman. All he did was have a few interactions with him. How could he just speak like that? _ Oh, chuck! _ Virgil felt his breathing sped up as a startling and damning thought hit him. _ I'm gonna get fired! _ Not only had Virgil freaked out on a total stranger. He had freaked out of his boss. His boss of all people! _ Good going, Virgil. _Virgil put his head in his hands and slumped over a bit as he tried to regain his breathing. 

"It's okay," he whispered softly to himself. "You'll just get a new job. And he hasn't fired you yet so…" Virgil tried his best to calm down. The last thing he wanted to do was to wake up Thomas. "Okay, you got this Virgil. Maybe he won't even remember. You're forgettable like that. Especially to those kinds of people. Everything will be fine."

Slowly, his breathing returned to normal. "Oh who am I kidding," he muttered. "He's not gonna forget." Virgil huffed. "I'll just have to hope, I guess." A dejected sigh. "I'll just lie low for a few days. Clean and such.." Virgil bit his lip. "Maybe Thomas can stay with Joan or Talyn for a few days?" He hummed. Tomorrow was Friday. So he could spend the whole weekend with his friends. Then, of course, he'd pick him back up on Sunday. Or even Monday after school. He hummed again. He'd have to ask Thomas about it tomorrow. 

  
  



	6. An Angstfest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman tries to figure out more about Virgil's situation only to be hit with it full force in less than an hour. 
> 
> You might need some tissues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: skipping meals, lightheadedness, angst, fainting, exhaustion, 911 call, hospital mention, homelessness, panicked characters, angst, please let me know if I missed any.

Roman sighed as he sat at his desk. It was Friday. Yesterday was Thursday. And last night was the most confusing moment of his life. At least he was pretty sure. He bit his lips as he looked out the wall to floor window to the right of his desk. His thoughts drifted to Thomas and Virgil. Where were they now? Were they okay? Another sigh. He checked his watch and quickly switched his facial expression. People would be coming in soon. He was earlier. After working late last night, it probably wasn't wise for him to come in early too but he couldn't help it. He had hoped that maybe Virgil worked early in the morning too. But he supposed that he probably couldn't. What with raising Thomas and all. Roman was metaphorically knocked out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. He looked up and saw Logan. He raised a hand and waved him in. "Morning, Logan." 

"Roman," Logan replied curtly. "So, I'm guessing you spoke with the Charleston's early this morning?" 

Logan nodded as he straightened his tie. "Yes, I have. They are offended by Remus's comments." 

Roman sighed. "Did they seem interested in the offer?" 

Logan shook his head. "No, they did not." A tired sigh. "May I suggest something?" Roman nodded. "Do you think your brother might be trying to sabotage you?" 

Roman groaned. "No, I know my brother maybe…" he paused as he tried to choose his words. "He’s not doing so good right now, but I know him. He wouldn't do this to me. He knows I don't want the job. And he knows just how…" A pause. "Our mother is. If I were to step down she would be furious."

Logan sighed. "Roman," he began. "As much as I love working with you, you really shouldn't be putting off your dreams." 

Roman closed his eyes. "Logan, I know you're trying to look out for me and all, but… please, I really don't know if I can handle thinking about lost dreams right now." Logan looked down. 

"Hey!" Both men turned to the doorway where Remus just stepped in. "Why didn't you pick me up this morning?!!"

Roman stared at his brother for a minute before sighing. "I'm sorry, Remus. I forgot. I didn't mean to-" 

"Hey," Remus frowned and stepped forward. Despite his bad habits and seemingly general dislike for him, he still cared for his brother. "What's wrong?" 

Roman groaned as he watched both his brother and his friend turn to look at him with equal looks of concern. Roman sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I can't- not right now. I'm not even sure what's going on." He breathed. "But as soon as I know, I'll let you guys know, okay?" 

Identical looks of suspicion before the two backed off. "Okay," they replied. 

"Thank you." The two left, but not without shooting their looks of concern at Roman. Roman let his head drop to his hands. "Ugggg."

\------

"Thank you so much!" Virgil called out as he left the Stokes house. He climbed into his car and drove off. He had just dropped Thomas off at his friend's Joan's house for a three-night sleepover with them and their friend Talyn. He would pick up Thomas on Monday after school. Despite knowing he would be incredibly lonely the next three days, Virgil couldn't help but be grateful. His brother would get a real meal tonight. A real bed to sleep in. The thought filled Virgil with joy. And really, it wouldn't be that bad. Virgil still had his normal work hours. So, there was that. A small distraction. 

And while Thomas was away, Virgil could work on finding a place, and when he didn't find one, Thomas wouldn't have to witness him break down into tears. So, win-win. 

Of course, there was still a problem with Roman. He hadn't heard anything from him during his day shift. So he was hoping the other wouldn't be working late tonight. It was a Friday after all. And Roman seemed like the kind of guy who would have dinner parties with his rich friends. Virgil sighed. He had a few hours until his next shift. His stomach grumbled and Virgil frowned. "Shut up." Another grumble. Virgil resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was driving after all. "Seriously, you're fine. We have to save the food for Thomas. He needs it more than us." Was Virgil talking to his own body? Yes, yes he was. Was he going to stop? No. 

Soon Virgil pulled into the parking garage for Deeds Inc. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. He still had a decent amount of time. He hummed. He should take a nap. But he was too scared he wouldn't get up in time. His solution. 10 alarms to go out at ten-minute intervals up until a half-hour until he had to get up and then 5-minute intervals. He wasn't going to willing to risk it. Even if he was too anxious to try to fall asleep, at least he wouldn't miss his shift. 

\-------

Throughout the weekend, Virgil managed to evade Roman. He stayed as silent as a mouse with his cleaning aside from when he vacuumed and always somehow managed to just miss Roman. Meanwhile, Roman was frustrated and concerned. He had seen neither hide nor tail of Virgil or Thomas. He had even checked the storage closet he had found Thomas in only to discover it devoid of life. And Roman wasn't stupid. The thought had come to him that Virgil was avoiding him. And he respected that. It just...hurt. He was well aware that Virgil was probably scared of him. And maybe even Thomas was too. 

Roman shuddered. That thought was too heartbreaking to even consider for too long. However, despite Virgil's avoidance of him like he was the Black Plague, Roman still brainstormed ways to help him. Of course, that was a little harder considering Roman wasn't aware of the exact problem. And the thought had crossed his mind. Many times. So much so that he decided to come up with ways to help for more situations. However, he was sure he had one that would work for certain. Virgil brought Thomas with him to work. That, of course, could be due to various different reasons varying from no babysitter to homeless. Roman highly doubted the latter. No babysitter was more likely. After all, Virgil said they were just finishing up moving. So Roman decided to add a daycare room to the building. That way Virgil could still be in the same building as Thomas in case Thomas needed his brother. The idea made Roman giddy. Oh, he could see it now! Roman would be sitting as his desk as Virgil walked by the room only to notice the new sign and his face would light up and his gorgeous eyes filled with joy as Thomas let out a happy squeal and run inside. And then Virgil would stop by to say he was so grateful for the daycare room. And he would hand him a picture Thomas drew and it would be a picture of the three of them and Thomas would have called him brother-in-law and Virgil would flush and try to apologize and he would silence him with a kiss. Roman shook his head. No. It would happen like this.

Roman would stop Virgil while he was cleaning during the day and he would take him to the daycare room and tell him he had set it up for Thomas and he would tell him that he could clean the room as often as he wanted during the day so he could spend time with Thomas throughout the day without it seeming like he's taking needless breaks and Virgil would be so happy that he would grab Roman's collar and roughly pull him into a passionate kiss and then Thomas would run up to him and give him his blessing to propose to Virgil and he would propose and then Virgil would say yes and they would get married and have kids. Roman fell back into his bed with a lovesick sigh. Then he thought of Virgil's face once again and his face flushed red as he kicked his legs in the air like a giddy child. "Oh, Virgil," Roman breathed. "What have you done to me?" 

\---------

This Monday had certainly been rough to Virgil. And the day wasn't even half over. First off, he had only gotten a few hours of sleep last night, at most four. Then, when he woke up he had incredible pain in his stomach which nearly made him sick. Thankfully, after ignoring it for a few minutes, the pain ebbed. Then he had to get up and go to work and clean for five hours. While it might not seem like much to someone who was well rested and not emotionally exhausted, it was a whole lot to Virgil. But he pushed through. He couldn't allow himself to take it easy. He couldn't afford to take it easy. 

As Virgil was cleaning a restroom, he paused to check the time. He sighed. He had to pick Thomas up in about an hour. Then he would have a small reprise to spend time with Thomas and to give his body a small bit of rest before he had to go back in for the night shift. With a small burst of energy, Virgil moved to leave the bathroom before he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He grimaced. He certainly wasn't looking too good. He frowned and turned to the door. He left the room and returned to work. Okay, so yeah, he looked like shit. But that's what he normally looked like, so it's not like there was anything to worry about. He was fine. No one was looking at him anyway. They would maybe catch a glimpse before averting their eyes. He was just too unimportant to even be worth more than a seconds worth of another's attention. 

Despite Virgil's internal monologue, people were indeed throwing him a few more glances than one would suspect. Most of the secretaries or people who were lower on the pyramid of this building's jobs like he was, but they were glances nonetheless. Concerned glances. If Virgil noticed them, he didn't react. Repression sure is a powerfully dangerous weapon. 

\-----

"Virgil!!" 

"Thomas!!" Virgil laughed as Thomas raced to his van and hoped inside. "Hey, buddy! How was Joan's?"

"Awesome!" Thomas exclaimed excitedly as he buckled his seatbelt. "We watched Disney and we played games and we played Imagination and we made cookies!" 

"Woah," Virgil commented as he took the vehicle out of the park and began driving. "Sounds like you have a wild weekend!" 

Thomas giggled. "Yeah! We did! It was sooooooo much fun! Joan even has a cat!!" 

Virgil blinked. "But you're allergic?" A moment of silence. "Why didn't you tell me they had a cat? I could have gotten you allergy medicine." 

Thomas shrugged. "I don't know. But their cat is sooo cute and they love me! They sat on my lap and purred!!" 

Virgil couldn't fight off the fond smile on his face. "Aww. They really like you, huh?" Virgil asked.

"Yeah!" Thomas exclaimed. 

Virgil pulled into the parking garage and found a spot nearly empty. Nobody was too close or too far. A quick check of the time told him he had a few hours until the start of his shift. "Okay, do you have any homework?" Virgil asked as he unbuckled his seat belt and reached onto the floor of the passengers’ seating and pulled out a lamp. 

"Yeah," Thomas answered as he unbuckled and pulled off his bookbag. 

"Okay, do you want me to make you a sandwich now or later?" 

Thomas hummed as he pulled out his homework and set it on his lap desk. "Later, please." 

"Okay. Do you want me to come back there in case you need help?" 

"No, thank you." 

"Do you want music while you work?" 

"Yes, please." 

Virgil smiled back at Thomas as he watched him work on his homework. He turned in his seat a little before pulling up Spotify on his phone and going to Thomas's playlist and hitting shuffle. Disney songs began to fill the car as Virgil opened Tumblr to scroll through the app. And that was how the next hour went. Thomas calmly doing his homework with the occasional humming as Virgil relaxed on his phone. 

"Can we watch some Steven Universe?" Thomas asked as he put away his work. 

Virgil smiled as he moved to climb into the back. "Sure." Thomas moved to the third-row seat with Virgil following. They curled up on the seats as Virgil pulled up the show and pushed play. They sat there, snuggled together for a bit before Virgil closed the app. "Okay, Thomas. Time for dinner." Virgil leaned up into the middle seat and grabbed the small crate with their food and rummaged around for the peanut butter, jelly, and bread. Thomas whined a little but sat up and watched as his brother grabbed the butter knife and began making his sandwich. 

"Can you cut it in half?" 

"Sure." Virgil cut the sandwich in half and handed it to Thomas before cleaning off the knife and putting the stuff away. Thomas took a bite of his sandwich before frowning at Virgil as he chewed. 

Thomas swallowed. "Aren't you gonna eat?" He asked. 

Virgil froze for a second before putting the butter knife in a lunch box along with their other utensils. "No."

"Why not?" Thomas asked, concerned. 

Virgil hesitated a moment. He didn't like to lie to Thomas. However, if that would protect him, then he wouldn't have such an issue. But how could he excuse this? "Because I'm not hungry," he replied. 

Thomas stayed quiet as he finished his sandwich. He wasn't sure he believed Virgil.  _ His brother hesitated _ , a voice that sounded suspiciously like Olaf's said in his head. 

Virgil sighed. "Come on, it's time for me to go to work." He got up and climbed out of the car before he opened the back door. "You got everything you need?" He asked as Thomas grabbed a bag with stuffed animals, his blanket, a small pillow, and a spare charger for Virgil's phone. 

"Yeah." 

"Okay, let's go." Thomas hopped out and Virgil shut the door, locking it before dropping his keys into a pocket inside Thomas's bag. Hs zipped it shut and the two quickly made their way across the parking lot and into the building. Virgil and Thomas walked through the hall silently, the place was fairly empty aside from a 1 or two people here and there. Made sense. It was pretty late after all. They would be gone by the time Virgil’s shift ended. Virgil led Thomas to the closet and led him inside. "Alright," he whispered. "Here is my phone." Remember to keep it on low, right?" Thomas nodded. "Good." Virgil quickly set up a makeshift bed before pausing to let Thomas lay down so he could tuck him in. "Alright, try to get some rest, Tommy. I love you." Virgil pressed a kiss to his brother's forehead. 

"I love you too, Vee." Virgil smiled before leaving Thomas to go work. 

About two hours later, Virgil stopped to go check on Thomas. He had noticed throughout the last half-hour he had been feeling a little light-headed. And no one else was really there so taking a small break wouldn't hurt. Virgil carefully walked down the hallway. However, he kept having to pause and lean against the wall as he started feeling dizzy. Soon enough, he was in the hallway leading to the closet Thomas was inside. Virgil grunted and with a final push of energy and determination, he got himself down the hall and to the door. He knocked softly. "Itz Veergel," he slurred slightly before he opened the door. Thomas sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

"Virgil?" He asked cautiously. "Are you okay?" Virgil squinted and groaned as he stumbled back against the wall as a wave of dizziness overcame him. "Virgil?!" Thomas asked, his voice going higher as he felt fear spike in his chest. Virgil slowly stood up, holding his head. "Virgil?!?" 

"It's ok, Thomas. Everything is-" Virgil's voice cut off as he slowly wobbled.  _ No!  _ Virgil thought.  _ I can't do this. I have to take care of Thomas.  _ Virgil forced himself to stand upright. He lifted his head up to look at Thomas and forced a smile onto his face. "See, all go-" Virgil never got to finish his sentence. At that exact moment, he lost all control of his limbs as they turned to jelly and he crumbled beneath the weight of his body. The smooth floor raced up to meet Virgil's face as his head hit the cold surface. And then all was black. 

\------

Thomas had gotten restless after about an hour of listening to music so he switched to YouTube and started watching some random videos. After a few videos, he heard a soft knock on the door. He quickly reached out and paused the video and clicked the button on the side of the device to make the screen go dark. He quickly laid down stiff as a board and pulled the blanket up to his neck. "Itz Veergel," Thomas frowned. Was that Virgil? He didn't sound okay. The door opened and Thomas sat up as he noticed the familiar shadow of his brother. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to adjust to the light from the hallway. 

"Virgil?" He started. "Are you okay?" Virgil frowned and stumbled back from the doorway and hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. "Virgil?!" He asked again as he leaned forward and scrambled over to the doorway. Slowly his brother stood up as he held his head. "Virgil?!?"

"It's okay, Thomas. Everything is-" 

Thomas watched in fear as his brother wobbled. Then Virgil suddenly lifted his head and smiled at him. It seemed forced. "See, all go-" Thomas watched, terrified, as his brother crumpled to the ground before him. 

"Virgil!" Thomas cried out and raced to his side. "Wake up!" He cried as he tried to shake his brother awake. The older didn't move. Tears began to stream down his face. "Virgil! Wake up!" He sobbed. Panic quickly filled his senses and before he knew it, he was up on his feet and racing through the hallways with no idea where he was going just that he needed to get his brother help. 

Thomas somehow stumbled into an office where he just barely missed running into a door. A brief moment of relief hit him as he noticed the light was on and someone was coming toward him. Despite not knowing who this person was, his common sense was overrun by fear for his brother so he quickly grabbed their arm and yanked then toward the door. "Help!" He sobbed, his words hardly comprehensible. "My brother!" He cried out. "Help!"

"Thomas?!?" A confused and highly concerned voice broke through his cries and Thomas looked up and saw Roman through his tears. 

"Roman!" He cried out. "Help!!! Virgil! Help!!" He tugged harder on the other arm. At first he didn't budge. 

"Thomas," he tried calmly. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Virgil! Virgil! Virgil!" Thomas sobbed as he yanked and tugged on Roman's arm until the other seemed to get the idea. Roman started following and Thomas took off, yanking the man down the hall to his fallen brother. 

As soon as they turned the corner, Thomas let go of Roman's arm and raced to his brother's side. "Roman's here. He'll help. He'll help," Thomas cried as snot ran from his nose and tears flowed from his eyes. "He's gonna help you." Thomas barely registered as Roman rushed forward, his phone already in his hand as he dialed 911. Thomas just held his brother's hand and cried. 

\-----

When Roman woke up that morning, he was expecting another boring day with another few hours of Virgil avoiding him. What he didn't expect was to hear frantic footsteps running through the hallway late at night as loud sobs echoed through the walls. Before he could check, however, a small ball of panic shot into his office and ran into him. The tiny human quickly yanked on his arm and tried to tell him something through their sobs. Then Roman noticed who it was. "Thomas?!?" What was Thomas doing here!? Wouldn't he be in the closet or with Virgil? Thomas paused and looked up before crying his name. He yanked on his arm harder. Roman frowned. "Thomas," he tried calmly. "Can you tell me what's wrong?" Thomas mumbled and sobbed more but Roman could hardly understand him. 

Then, in less than a second, a thought hit Roman like a freight train. He wasn't Thomas's big brother. If Thomas was scared of something, he wouldn't run to him. He would run to Virgil. And sure Virgil could be anywhere while Roman was almost always in the same area but Roman knew, without a doubt, if Thomas was crying and sobbing like this, Virgil would have found him before now. Roman allowed Thomas to drag him out of his office and down the hall until the rounded a corner and Thomas suddenly dropped his arm and ran down the hall, leaving Roman to stumble slightly. 

He went to ask what that was for when he saw what Thomas had run to and froze. His first thought was:  _ what?  _ Then it quickly changed to:  _ Oh my god Virgil! _ Roman pulled put his phone as he rushed forward, dialing 911 as he dropped down beside Thomas as quickly worked on checking Virgil's pulse after putting his call on speaker. A moment after frantically searching for a pulse point and then another moment for him to calm down enough to actually feel anything and then Roman could let out a small sigh of relief. Virgil had a pulse. 

"911, what's your emergency?" A calm and collected voice rang out from his phone's speaker. 

Roman tried to keep his voice level as he quickly answered. "It's my friend, he um..he's on the ground and he's not moving, but he's got a pulse." 

"Okay, can you tell me the address," 

"Yeah, it's um.." Roman could hardly recall the next few minutes as he answered the operators questions and stayed on the line. All he knew was that he was pulling Thomas against his side and pulling Virgil's head into his lap as he tried to take comfort in the fact that both brothers were with him. They were okay. Everything was going to be okay. Roman barely processed as the paramedics got there and carried Virgil out on a stretcher. He held Thomas back as they took his brother to the ambulance. Then he was kneeling down in front of the sobbing kid. "Hey, Thomas. We're going to go see your brother, okay?" 

Thomas's sobs quieted as he glanced at Roman and wiped his nose. "Really?" 

Roman nodded. "Of course. We just need to get your stuff and then we can go in my car." 

"NO!" Thomas screamed. "We have to take Virgil's van. We have to! He'll need it!" 

Roman watched as the little boy broke down and collapsed into his arms and sobbed. He took a few moments to try and understand why Thomas might not want to take his car before he realized: Virgil. It was all about Virgil. It was Virgil's van. It would have to provide Thomas some sort of comfort to be in his brother's car even if it wasn't with him. "Okay, let’s go. Do you have the keys?" Thomas nodded and pointed to the cleaning closet. Roman sighed and stood up as he scooped Thomas up with him. Roman opened the door and stepped inside and flicked the light on. He kneeled down and began picking everything up and putting it away. "Where are the keys?" Roman asked as he stood up and left the room. 

"The pocket," Thomas mumbled tiredly into Roman's chest. 

Roman hummed as he shifted to unzip the pocket and pull out the keys. "Do you think you can show me where the car is when we get to the parking lot?" Thomas nodded and Roman patted his back. "Thank you." Together, the two of them made it to the parking garage and got to the van, honestly, it was fairly easy considering the few number of cars but Roman would rather be sure. He helped Thomas into his seat and covered him up with a blanket despite being buckled and sitting upright. "Try to get some sleep, I'll wake you up when we get to Virgil." Thomas hummed and promptly fell asleep, the last hour having drained him emotionally. 

Roman smiled fondly before shutting the door and climbing into the front seat and taking a deep breath. The smile, gone. He took a few moments to inspect the van. The things that were in here when Roman first officially met them were still there. The fact made him frown. Explanations already coming to mind. None that he liked. Roman decided he would deal with that later and started the car before beginning the silent drive to the hospital. 


	7. Hellhole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: violence, abuse, running away, blood, let me know if I missed any

Virgil groaned as he opened his eyes only to close them again as the harsh light burned them. He blinked rapidly as he pushed himself up from his bed with a sigh. His limbs ached. But he was used to it. He checked his phone and quickly slid it into his pocket. He got dressed and ready for school before pausing to listen to the sounds outside of his room. After deeming the house quiet enough, he pushed the door to his room open ever so gently so as to not make a sound. 

Soon the door to his room was opened just enough for him to slip out and close the door behind him. He waited a few seconds before he pulled his keys out and locked the door to his room. Afterwards, he crept down to the end of the hall slowly and unlocked the door to his brother's room and snuck in and closed the door behind him. He locked the door before stepping over to his brother's bed. He sat down and on the bed and pulled back the covers. "Come on, Thomas. It's time to get up," he whispered. Thomas groaned and pulled himself up. Virgil stood up and opened one of the drawers and pulled some clothes out. He tossed them to Thomas so he could get dressed. "Remember," Virgil started. "I'll pick you up once school's over." 

"I remember," Thomas responded. He didn't want to think of what happened last time he forgot.

Virgil sighed and gathered the things his brother needed for school while his brother brushed his teeth and pulled his shoes on. The pair worked in silence, too scared to awaken the monsters to even make the normal amount of noise one would make while doing such things. Soon they were ready and began to start sneaking through the house. Once outside and a considerable distance from the house, the brothers let out a collective sigh. 

"It's okay. We're safe now," Virgil whispered as he walked Thomas to a friend's house. They brothers had a unique morning schedule. Virgil had to wake up first to get ready as quickly and quietly as he could and then he would go wake up Thomas and get him ready. Then they would sneak out and Virgil would drop Thomas off at his friends/the babysitter's. Then he would go to school and Thomas would stay there until the bus came and then he went with the babysitter's kids to school. 

Soon enough, they were at the babysitter's. Virgil knocked and turned to Thomas to give him a hug. "I'll see you later," he whispered. 

"I'll see you later," Thomas responded as the door opened and they pulled apart.

"Thank you again," Virgil told the babysitter as Thomas entered the home. 

"Oh, no problem. Leo is certainly glad to have Thomas over so often." 

Virgil smiled and then left to go to school. 

\--------

School was the same as it was everyday. Manageable. But as Virgil walked to Thomas's school to pick his brother up, he felt the exhaustion weigh down on him as if he had a boulder on his shoulders. But he pushed through. He didn't have time to be exhausted. "Virgil!" 

Virgil pushed a smile onto his face. "Thomas! How was school?" Thomas began talking but the exhaustion was draining. He began to zone out. His body relied on muscle memory as they walked back to the house. Soon they were walking up the sidewalk to their house. But Virgil was so zoned out that he didn't hear the noises from inside. He didn't have time to try and divert their path so they could try and sneak in the back. He didn't notice when the door opened and Thomas went silent and ducked behind Virgil. 

Virgil finally noticed with a flinch when a glass cup shattered on the wall next to his face. Finally he could see his parents in front of him as they shouted at each other. But they went silent when they noticed him in the doorway. Virgil gulped.

"What are you doing home, boy," his mother growled. Virgil stayed silent. 

"Answer your mother!" Virgil stayed silent. His dad growled and reached forward and yanked Virgil towards him. "Answer your mother!" He yelled, spit flying into Virgil's face. 

Virgil shoved him off and picked his brother up and raced upstairs with him and pushed him into his room. "Do your homework and watch some tv. Okay?" He told him as loud footsteps stomped up the stairs. "I'll be back up later with some mac and cheese, okay?" 

"Okay," Thomas whimpered. 

"Lock the door. I'll be up soon. I promise. I love you, Thomas." 

"Love you, Vee." 

Virgil pulled the door shut and he heard Thomas lock the door. He let out a sigh and turned around to be faced with his dad. He flinched as the other grabbed his arm and ripped him away from the door. "Why'd you do that, you of shit!" Virgil was shoved to the ground harshly as his dad began pounding on Thomas's door. "Open up fucker!"

Virgil winced and hoped his brother was hiding in case their dad broke the door down. He pulled himself up and pulled at his dad's arms to try and stop him. "Stop!" He cried out in an attempt to distract the other from his brother. Virgil beat on his dad's back. Only then did the other turn around to face him. 

His dad growled and grabbed a fist full of hair and began yanking Virgil down the hall. "I'll teach you not to hit me you ungrateful bitch!" Tears streamed down Virgil's face as he was dragged down the stairs and through the house and to the basement where he was shoved down the stairs. Virgil groaned as his body smacked onto the hard concrete floor as his father followed him. 

"You want to disrespect me?!?!?!" His father screamed. "I'll show you what happens when you disrespect me." Virgil was yanked up by his hair as his father reared back and slammed a fist into his face. Blood squirted from his nose and Virgil screamed. He was shoved to the ground roughly as his dad began kicking him mercilessly. He whimpered and curled up to protect his stomach. A voice broke through the violence as his mother called down the stairs. "Rob! We have to go soon! Hurry up with the brat!"

Rob stopped and leaned down and lifted his son's head, "Any funny business, and I'm going to lock you down here." He dropped Virgil's head and left. Virgil stayed where he was until he heard the front door shut. Then he waited a few moments more until he was sure they were gone and got up. He carefully crept up the stairs. Ignoring the pain radiating throughout his body, he waited a few moments more until he heard no sign of his parents, then he walked out onto the first floor and crept over to the window. When peaking out showed no sign of his parents car he let out a sigh of relief. Finally, they were gone. 

Virgil winced as he made his way to the bathroom and began cleaning himself up. Thomas didn't need to see this. As he cleaned, he once again reminded himself that he just had to get to the end of the year, then he would graduate and take his brother and get away from this hell hole. Once he had finished cleaning himself, he moved to the kitchen and began making some mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. He felt so bad for having let their dad pound on Thomas's door. Chicken nuggets would help him feel a little better he hoped. 

Virgil carried the food upstairs after a panic attack and cleaned up after himself and gave the secret knock. "I'm coming in," he called softly as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. He slipped inside and locked the door behind him. "I brought mac and cheese and chicken nuggets," he said as he turned around only to freeze. 

Thomas was curled up on his bed in the farthest corner. He was shaking badly as tears streamed down his face. Virgil felt as if a darkness was surrounding him and closing in on him. Then he quickly made up his mind. He crept forward and set the chicken nuggets on the bed. Then he turned around and began packing Thomas's things. Thomas sniffed as he turned to his brother, confused. "Vee?" He asked. 

Virgil turned as he continued to pack things up. "It's okay Thomas. We're going to get out of here. Just eat your food." Virgil was so thankful he had his van that he used to get to and from work. Once he was done, he packed his room and began loading everything into his van, which he hid in the woods behind his house. Then he grabbed the food from the kitchen. It was all bought by him anyway. 

Afterwards, he snuck into his parents bedroom and stole some cash. Enough to get an apartment, some furniture, and some food. Then he and Thomas got in the van and left. 

\----------

Roman and Thomas walked into the hospital and to the front desk. "Hello, I'm here to see Virgil Sanders." 

The receptionist looked up. "Name?" 

"Roman Deeds." 

The woman turned back to the computer and did a quick search. "Are you his family?" 

"Yes, I'm his fiance." 

"Okay, he's in room 221."

"Thank you."

Roman and Thomas began to search for Virgil's room. "Roman," Thomas began. "Why did you lie?" 

"So you could see your brother."

"Thank you."

"I promise I will take care of you and your brother," Roman spoke as they navigated the hallways of the hospital.

"Really?" Thomas asked. 

"Of course." 

"Why?" 

Roman paused for a moment. "Because that's what a Prince would do." He went silent for a few moments more before he spoke again. "Would you be willing to stay with me until your brother gets better?" 

Thomas thought for a few moments. "If Virgil says it's okay." 

"Of course."

Suddenly, they were in front of room 221. "Are you ready to go in?" Roman asked Thomas. 

Thomas stayed silent for a few moments. "Do you think he's okay?" 

Roman stared at the door. "Yeah, I think so. Your brother is very strong." 

"Okay, I'm ready." Thomas pushed open the door and walked in to find his brother asleep in the hospital bed. Roman and Thomas stepped in and slowly made their way to the bed and watched as. Virgil's face twisted as if he was in pain and his breathing quickened. He jolted up, eyes wide and unfocused, his heart beating rapidly as his breath came in quick pants. 

"Virgil?" Thomas called. Virgil's head whipped over to see him standing next to Roman. 

"Thomas.." He began and looked between the two, confused. What had happened? "What happened?" 

Thomas scooted closer to the bed as Roman answered. "You passed out from hunger and exhaustion." 

Virgil's face flushed red in embarrassment and anger for himself. "Oh." 

"Virgil, can I hug you?" Thomas asked. 

"Of course," Virgil said softly and moved to lean forward only for Roman to stop him. 

"No, I'll help him." Roman picked Thomas up and gingerly placed him on the bed. Thomas immediately latched onto his brother. Roman felt his heart swell with adoration. They were adorable. 

The room was quiet for a few. Roman felt just a tiny bit awkward as the brothers comforted each other. The silence didn't last long, however, as Virgil let out a sigh and bit his lip. 

"What is it exactly that you want?" Virgil started.

Roman sighed. "Look, I know the last time we talked it wasn't really good. I just-" Roman watched as Thomas slowly fell asleep. "I feel really bad about what I said and now I understand what you're going through." Virgil scoffed. "Well, I at least know now. And what kind of person would I be if I didn't help you." Roman bit his lip. "And truth be told, you two have grown on me. I mean, Thomas I'd just the best kid ever. And he is definitely a good brother. And then there's you."

"What about me?" Virgil asked stiffly. 

"I-you just- you're such an amazing person. And I- I think I like you." 

"You think?" 

Roman shook his head. "No, I know. I know I like you. But-I'm not going to force you or anything. I just want to help you and your brother. Anything you need." Roman ran a hand through his hair. "And, I wanted to ask you if it would be okay if I took care of Thomas while you recover. And if you would let me help you. " Virgil blinked as he processed what Roman just said. "I- and I promise not to try and pursue a relationship with you-"

"What if-" Virgil started, uncertainty wobbling through his voice. "What if we gave it a shot. Went really slow." Roman stared at the other with wide eyes. "I mean, Thomas has to come first," 

"Obviously." 

Virgil's lips twitched up slightly as he looked over at Roman. "Yeah, Thomas comes first." 


	8. Prisons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has their own personal prisons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: slight angst, Remus is drunk and Mrs. Deeds is a bitch.

Roman hummed as he took the pot of mac and cheese off the stove and set it down on top of a pot holder on the dining room table. After that he grabbed the hot dogs and set them on the table beside the pot. With one last quick check to make sure that he had the plates and utensils that they would need to eat, Roman smiled and left the dining room to go get Thomas for dinner. He walked into the room he had designated for Thomas. 

"Prince Thomas, dinner is ready. Please join me in the dining room," Roman said as he projected his voice dramatically. 

Thomas looked up from where he was playing with some legos. "What's for dinner?" 

"Mac and cheese and hot dogs, sir." 

Thomas's face split into a grin and he shot up and raced past Roman. Roman chuckled as he followed and found Thomas already sitting at the table. Roman quickly plated their food before sitting down and beginning to dig in. "So," Roman started. "How was school today?" 

"It was good," Thomas began. "We learned some stuff. And Joan and Talyn and I played Dragon Witch," Thomas stopped to eat some more food. 

"Dragon Witch?" Roman paused in his eating. "I've never heard of that before, what is it?"

"Well, a dragon witch is a witch that can turn into a dragon and Joan Talyn and I choose who is the dragon witch and then who isn't the dragon witch is a royal and a knight and we have to defeat the dragon witch." 

"Interesting," Roman commented. "Is a dragon witch similar to Maleficent?" 

"No-" Thomas paused as he took a moment to think about it. "Wait! Yes!" He exclaimed as he had a realization that Maleficent was a dragon witch.

Roman hummed, impressed. "Wow! I'm honored to be having dinner with someone who can handle a dragon witch!" Thomas giggled and Roman smiled softly. 

The room went silent for a little bit as the two ate their dinner. Roman stopped eating for a moment as he watched Thomas eat. "I talked to your brother earlier today." 

Thomas dropped his fork. "What'd he say?" 

"He said he should be released in a few days." 

"Can we go see him soon?" 

"Yeah, we can go tomorrow." 

Thomas grinned. "Thank you!" Thomas went back to eating as Roman smiled and did the same. 

\--------------

"Virgil!" 

"Thomas!" 

Roman laughed as Thomas ran into Virgil's hospital room and climbed up onto the bed. Virgil pulled him into a big hug as Roman walked into the room with another balloon Thomas wanted to give his brother. "Roman said you'd be getting out soon!" 

"He's right, buddy." Virgil smiled as his brother beamed at him. "It'll be in the next few days."  _ Where are you going to go?  _ The question nagged at the back of Virgil's brain but he shoved in harshly aside in favor of spending time with his brother. 

"Can we dye our hair again?" Thomas asked as he began playing with the hospital blanket. 

Virgil bit his lip.  _ Was Roman actually going to help them out? Would he be mad if I wasted money on hair dye?  _ "We'll see-" 

"Yeah!" Roman exclaimed. "We should all get our hair dyed!" Thomas looked over to Roman as his face lit up and he let out a squeal of excitement. Virgil froze.  _ Wait, what? That wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to get mad and stop helping us.  _ "Although, you two will have to help me seeing as I've never had my hair dyed before. If I mess it up will it turn my skin rainbow?" 

Thomas giggled. "No! It'll just be like if you get paint on you!" 

Roman let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, I was worried." 

Virgil felt himself calming down as his brother giggled at Roman. "What color were you thinking?" He asked as he blocked out his negative thoughts. 

Roman looked thoughtful for a few moments before turning to Thomas. "What do you think, little Prince?" 

Thomas climbed out of the hospital bed and stood back at a distance as he put his fingers up like he was checking angles for a camera. Virgil laughed as his brother inspected Roman. The other adult looked downright nervous. Pure entertainment for Virgil. "Maybe red?" 

Roman gasped. "My favorite color! How'd you know?" 

Virgil gasped dramatically. "Oh my goodness! Thomas, did you hear that? You two have the same favorite color!" Thomas gasped before he laughed and hugged Roman. 

"We can get matching hair colors just like Virgil and I did!" 

Virgil could see the sparkling stars in Roman's eyes as his face lit up. "Oh my stars, yes!" Roman picked Thomas up and began twirling around the room with him. "We would be like twins!!!!" He exclaimed as Thomas giggled and shrieked with joy. Virgil felt his cheeks color from embarrassment over smiling so much in one day. 

"You guys are dorks," he commented. 

The two "dorks" as Virgil called them stopped and looked at Virgil. They looked at him and then looked at each other before looking at him again. They looked at each other and then turned back to Virgil where their faces split into a wicked grin. "Uhhhhh," Virgil began. "You guys are scaring me." 

Thomas hopped forward. "You can join us, Virgil! We can all be matching!!!" 

"What?!?" Virgil shrieked. "No!" 

"Please!" Roman begged as he got on his knees and scooted over to Virgil's bedside and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. 

"No," Virgil responded and turned away from him before the eyes actually worked only to be hit with puppy dog eyes from Thomas. "And then he cracked. "Fine! We can all get matching hair dyes." 

"Yay!" The other two exclaimed leaving Virgil to wonder how the hell did he ever feel intimidated by Roman. 

\--------

Roman led Virgil and Thomas into an apartment a few days after Virgil got out of the hospital. "There's a bathroom here and a bed room here, and this is a second right next to it," Roman explained as he walked them through the apartment. 

"Do you need me to clean it?" Virgil asked, hoping this was going to help him get the money for a place for him and his brother so they wouldn't be bothering Roman. 

"Clean?" Roman asked, confused for a moment before laughing. "Oh, no! I want you two to live here?" 

Virgil blinked. "What?" He looked around. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you so much-" he said, assuming the other was tired of him getting in his way. 

"No! That's not it, I just figured you would want your space and-" Roman flushed bright red. "-I don't want you to feel like we have to go faster in this relationship. I want you to be able to not feel obligated to move faster. We're taking it slow and yeah." Virgil blushed as Roman bit his lip. "It's a corporate apartment. And we have a few of them, but you can live here as long as you like." 

"I-I don't know if I can accept this." 

"Please, Virgil. Do it for Thomas. I promise you, this does not mean you owe me anything, I swear." 

Virgil hugged himself as he thought it over. "Okay," he began. "Okay. Thank you so much." 

Roman smiled. "No problem." 

"Can I jump on the bed?" Thomas asked as he came out of the one bedroom he had been looking in.

The adults laughed. "Of course!" Roman exclaimed. "Have fun!" 

Thomas grinned and ran in and began jumping on the bed as Roman turned back to Virgil. "Now, I'm going to take you guys grocery shopping, but it doesn't have to be now. You guys can focus on moving your things in and I can bring you some takeout to eat while you work or we can get the food first?" 

Tears pooled in Virgil's eyes causing Roman to think he did something wrong until Virgil wrapped his arms around him and cried into his chest. "Thank you thank you thank you!" 

Roman smiled and hugged him back. "You're welcome. I'm so happy you are happy." 

"Beyond happy," Virgil mumbled into the other's chest, unaware of the heat coloring Roman's cheeks. "Thank you."

\-------------

Roman and Logan looked up as a light knock sounded. "Virgil!" Roman exclaimed as his face broke into a wide smile. Logan shot a glance to Roman before looking back at the man in the doorway to Roman's office. "Come in! Come in!" 

Virgil nervously stepped into the office and gave a small nod to Logan. "Virgil, it's nice to see you. Patton has been updating me on how you and Thomas have been doing but it is simply not the same. Maybe we can work out a time to get together soon." 

"Yeah," Virgil said lamely. 

Roman bit his lip. It seemed Virgil was friends with Patton and Logan but he wasn't enough to tell them his situation. It made Roman feel weird. Warm. He of course knew that Virgil hadn't told him of their situation on purpose but, it made him feel slightly warm that Virgil allowed him to remain in the know. 

"I will take my leave now, Patton and I have a lunch date," Logan excused himself and left the two alone. 

Virgil bit his lip as an awkward silence filled the room. He sighed. "Can I take you to lunch?" 

Roman's eyes lit up. "Of course!" Roman stood up and stepped out from behind his desk.

Virgil smiled. "I'll lead the way," and Virgil walked out first, Roman following behind. The two got into the elevator and Virgil pushed the button for the bottom floor before turning to Roman. "Just to let you know, we're walking." 

Roman narrowed his eyes. "So, it's somewhere we can walk to, hhmm."

Virgil snorted. "You really can't wait until we get there to find out?" 

"I'm impatient! I can't help it!" Roman whined which only caused Virgil to laugh more. Roman became too distracted to even think about where they could be going as he was basking in the beauty that was Virgil's laugh. Virgil, however, quickly slapped him outta it. "Ow!" Roman exclaimed. 

Virgil chuckled. "Stop staring at me then. Come on, let's go." 

The two hopped off the elevator and left the building. They walked on the sidewalk, weaving their way past other people chatting lightly until Virgil stopped in front of a small shop. "Here we are," he said and opened the door for Roman. "After you." 

Roman blushed. "Thank you." He stepped inside and looked around curiously. The sign outside had read Fairytale Diner and it did not disappoint. The inside of the shop looked like it was straight out of a storybook. The walls were painted with a gorgeous landscape. Beautiful green forests with a shimmering blue-green river. Fairy lights were strung up along the walls and they twinkled as if they held a magical secret. As Roman and Virgil were seated, he noticed that each chair seemed to be designed to look like thrones. And each table looked like the round table from the King Arthur legend. Upon receiving the menu, he noticed each dish was named after a fairytale. 

"How did you find this place?" He said in awe. 

Virgil laughed. "I did some digging. I like themed restaurants and this one seemed cool so I took Thomas here one time and he loved it. Figured a Disney geek like yourself would like it too." 

Roman smiled. "Yeah, you're right about that." 

"I'm glad." 

As the two men enjoyed their food, they talked about whatever crossed their minds. The conversation seemed to flow easily, between the two, no hiccups that Virgil worried about occurred. It was a perfect little lunch date. Nice and cozy. And as the two made their way back to the office, they just walked in comfortable silence. They said a quick goodbye at the doors to the office building before they parted ways. Virgil would rest some more and Roman would go back to work. 

Roman floated through the doorway to his office on a high. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "I assume you are feeling a metaphorical high from your lunch with Virgil, is that a correct assumption?" 

"Yeah," Roman sighed happily. "It was amazing." 

"I could deduce as such. Now, on to business He accepted it." 

"Virgil accepted my proposal?" Roman asked as he began to slowly wake up from his daydream. 

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, we're talking business, Roman." Logan sighed. "Your company's competitor has accepted the agreement, you will be taking them over once both parties sign the papers." 

"Oh!" Roman exclaimed, effectively having been broken out of his daydream. "That's great." Roman supposed. He felt slightly guilty for not being as excited about this as he was about his lunch with Virgil but, he really didn't enjoy his job. No matter how much he tried to. "I'll call my mom and tell her…" Roman said numbly as he moved over to his desk and picked up his office phone. 

Logan frowned. "No, hey, let's get the agreements signed first, okay Roman?" Logan pushed the phone back down and guided his friend to his seat. "We can have everyone come here on Monday and make the announcement then and celebrate. Okay?" Roman nodded. "Okay, go-ahead and get yourself lost in your fantasy for a bit longer, I'm sure you'd rather think about Virgil than anything else." 

"Thank you," Roman sighed. He really did have the best friends he could ask for. 

\--------------

Roman stood in front of his employees as he held a glass of champagne. "I just have to tell you that my father, Walter Deeds is smiling down from heaven on this moment right now. We took over the competitor that caused him a lot of stress over th years and I'm very proud of it. I know my mother, Ms. Wilimena Deeds is also very proud of it. Thank you everyone. And don't drink too much we still have four more hours of work left," Roman chuckled. His employees cheered as he toasted his glass.

The elevator doors opened and he turned to see Virgil step through the doors anxiously. Roman's face lit up. "Virgil!" He exclaimed happily and went to meet him. Remus raised an eyebrow as he watched his brother. Their mother looked at Virgil suspiciously. "How are you doing?" Roman asked brightly. 

"I, uh," Virgil fidgeted with the sleeves of his hoodie. "I didn't know this was going on, I can call you later-" Virgil moved to leave but Roman shook his head. "No, it's okay, what did you want?" 

"Who is he?" Roman's mother asked. 

Remus snorted. "What? Don't you ever see "the help"? He's a janitor." 

"A janitor?" Their mother asked, disgusted. Ms. Deeds' eyes narrowed as she walked over to the two. "Hello," she greeted, her voice sickly sweet. 

"Oh," Roman started as he noticed his mother, his smile dimmed. "This is my mother, Wilimena. Mother, this is Virgil." 

Ms. Deeds smiled. "How long have you known my son?"

Virgil unnoticeably frowned. "Uh, I don't know. A little month or so?" 

Ms. Deeds smiled as if she knew something Virgil didn't. "You know my son has a penchant for projects. He loves taking them on, renovating them. Buying small businesses and making them bigger and better. Then he sells them and walks away." 

Roman stared at his mom dumbfounded as Virgil bit his lip and shifted uncomfortably. "Do you really have to suck the life out of everyone you meet, mother?" Remus asked. 

Ms. Deeds' nose flared in anger. "Go home, you're drunk." 

"You only pay attention to me when I make a scene!" Remus screamed. Roman sighed and guided Virgil to the elevator. "Come on, let's get out of here." 

Remus followed them and stormed into the elevator and began pressing random buttons rapidly to leave quicker. The doors closed and they began moving until the elevator stopped. "We're stuck," Virgil said after a moment of not moving. "Oh my god! We're stuck. We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" He began panicking. He slid down the wall and sat with his knees to his chest and buried his face in his knees. Roman kneeled next to him and tried to comfort him as his brother let out a broken laugh. 

"Isn't it ironic?" Remus chuckled humorlessly. "We're all stuck here. Just like you're stuck in a career you don't even want or like," Remus cried angrily. "I hate you!" He screamed before breaking down. Tears dripped from Roman's eyes as he watched his twin break down in front of him for the first time since they were teenagers. It was jarring. And it scared him. And it had scared Virgil too judging by his flinches when Remus yelled. 

And so, the three men cried to themselves as they waited to be rescued from their prisons. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think?

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think?


End file.
